expectorate

English

WOTD – 22 September 2006

Etymology

From Latin expectorātus, past participle of expectorō (“(only figurative) banish from the mind; (post-classical) expel from the breast)”), from ex (“out of”) + pectus (“the breast”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɪkˈspɛktəɹeɪt/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Verb

expectorate (third-person singular simple present expectorates, present participle expectorating, simple past and past participle expectorated)

1. (ambitransitive) To cough up fluid from the lungs.
   • 1893, Popular Science Monthly (ed.), Popular Science Monthly, Vol. 42 (Jan 1893) — Notes‎^[1]:

     These rules are equally applicable to pneumonia and perhaps also to bronchitis. It will, therefore, be best to call them, not rules for consumptives, but for all persons who cough and expectorate .

   • 1876, Mark Twain, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (Chapter VI)‎^[2]:

     …the gap in his upper row of teeth enabled him to expectorate in a new and admirable way.

2. (ambitransitive) To spit.

Derived terms

• expectorative
• expectorator
• unexpectorated

Related terms

• expectorant
• expectoration

Translations

to cough up fluid from the lungs

• Armenian: խորխել (hy) (xorxel)
• Bulgarian: изкашлям (bg) (izkašljam), изхрачвам (bg) (izhračvam)
• Catalan: expectorar (ca)
• Czech: vykašlat pf
• Finnish: yskiä (fi)
• French: expectorer (fr)
• Galician: expectorar (gl), esgarrar (gl)
• Hungarian: felköhög (hu), felkrákog, kiköhög (hu)
• Icelandic: hósta (is), hósta upp
• Italian: espettorare (it)
• Macedonian: иска́шлува (iskášluva)
• Polish: odpluwać impf, odplunąć pf, wykrztuszać impf, wykrztusić pf, odkasływać impf, odkasłać pf
• Portuguese: expectorar (pt)
• Russian: ха́ркать (ru) impf (xárkatʹ), ха́ркнуть (ru) pf (xárknutʹ), отха́ркивать (ru) impf (otxárkivatʹ), отка́шливать (ru) impf (otkášlivatʹ)
• Spanish: expectorar (es)
• Turkish: balgam atmak (tr)
• Vietnamese: khạc đờm, khạc (vi), nhổ (vi)

spit — see spit

See also

• sputum

Further reading

• “expectorate”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “expectorate”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.
• “expectorate”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Spanish

Verb

expectorate

1. second-person singular voseo imperative of expectorar combined with te