syringe

syringe — noun

1. a thin hollow tube fitted with a fine needle at one end and a plunger at the oth

1.nounB2
Definition

a thin hollow tube fitted with a fine needle at one end and a plunger at the other, used for delivering medicine into the body or drawing out tiny volumes of blood or other liquid

Example

The nurse filled a clean syringe with the vaccine before giving Noa her injection.

fill a syringe with [liquid] — common verb + noun collocation

Doctors use a syringe to draw a small amount of blood for testing.

use a syringe to draw blood — purpose structure with infinitive

Common collocations
  • hypodermic syringe
  • insulin syringe
  • sterile syringe
  • syringe needle
  • syringe plunger
  • disposable syringe
  • fill a syringe
  • use a syringe
Synonyms
  • needle

    often used informally to mean the whole syringe, though it strictly refers only to the metal part

  • hypodermic

    technical term for a syringe used under the skin; less common in everyday speech

Grammar Patterns

a syringe

the syringe

with a syringe

Usage Note

The word syringe can refer either to a medical needle-and-plunger device or to a rubber-bulb tool for irrigation. In everyday speech, it most often means the needle type used for injections.

Common Mistakes

The doctor gave me a syringe.' (when meaning an injection).
The doctor gave me an injection with a syringe.
syringe refers to the tool, not the medical procedure.
I need a syringe for my insulin.' (when meaning the insulin pen).
I need a syringe to draw up my insulin.
insulin pens are a different device; a syringe is the traditional needle-and-plunger tool.

syringe — verb

Word family

  • syringes
    noun (plural)B2
  • syringed
    verb (past tense / past participle)B2
  • syringing
    verb (present participle)B2

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

Syringe, needle, and hypodermic refer to related but distinct parts of the same medical device. A syringe is the whole instrument: the hollow barrel with a plunger. A needle is the thin metal tube that attaches to the end, though in casual speech people often say 'needle' to mean the entire syringe (e.g., 'the nurse gave me a needle'). Hypodermic is short for hypodermic syringe or hypodermic needle and is a technical term describing equipment designed for injection under the skin. In a pharmacy context you would ask for 'a syringe' or 'a needle,' while 'hypodermic' is more common among medical professionals. For example: 'The pharmacist handed Liang a syringe and a separate pack of needles,' but 'The doctor used a hypodermic to inject the anesthetic directly into the gum.'

syringe ↗needle ↗hypodermic

Common collocations

Nouns

Adverbs

Phrases

  • fill a syringe
  • use a syringe
  • draw up [liquid] with a syringe
  • inject with a syringe
  • remove with a syringe

Prepositions

  • with a syringe
  • into [body part / container]
  • out of [body part]

Etymology

GreekLatinFrenchEnglish

The word syringe comes from the Greek syrinx (σῦριγξ), meaning 'pipe, tube, or shepherd's pipe', which passed into Latin as syringa and later into French as seringue before entering English in the 15th century. The medical instrument was named for its tube-like shape, similar to a hollow pipe or reed.