DictionaryRoot: -io
Latin

-io

an action, process, or result

Forms

  • -io
  • -ion- — The longer form used before Latin endings.
  • -ion — The form carried into many English nouns.

Origin

An old Latin noun ending, inherited from earlier Indo-European word formation.

Note

The ending can name both an activity and what that activity produces.

203 / 371
noun

injection

in-JEK-shun/ɪnˈdʒekʃn/

The introduction of fluid into the body with a needle.

A clinician gives a patient an injection in the upper arm.

A clinician depresses the plunger of a syringe whose needle is inserted into a patient's exposed upper arm, making the act of injecting liquid immediately visible.
Etymology

The pieces give the image of throwing something in. In medical use, that became forcing fluid into a body, as with a syringe, rather than throwing a solid object.

In context

SCP Orientation4:49
she finds a fresh needle mark with a speck of blood and remembers administering the injection
Your Last First Day (SCP Orientation Tales)

More examples

  • This medicine is given by injection rather than by mouth.
  • She needs daily insulin injections to manage her diabetes.
  • The injection site feels sore for a few hours.

Forms

injection · injections

inject verb — Introduce fluid into the body by needle.

Similar words

shot
An informal term for an injection, often a vaccine.
inoculation
Specifically introduces a vaccine to protect against a disease.