noun / adjective

expectorant

ik-SPEK-ter-unt/ɪkˈspektərənt/

Aiding the clearing of mucus from the airways.

This expectorant helps you cough up mucus from your airways.

A compact two-moment illustration connects taking liquid medicine with coughing mucus out of the airways, distinguishing an expectorant from a medicine that simply suppresses coughing.

Etymology

exLatinout

+pectorLatinbreast, chest

+antLatinpresent participle ending

Driving something “out of the breast” was used figuratively for expelling it from the mind. In medicine, this became literal chest-clearing: an expectorant helps bring mucus out of the airways.

In context

Phyto Remedies 4:04

Pinocamphone is exactly why the herb functions as such a powerful expectorant, actually helping to clear mucus right out of the lungs

Hyssop Modern Science Validates This Ancient Ancient Remedy

More examples

Ask your pharmacist whether an expectorant could help your cough.
Not all cough medicines are expectorants.
The label lists guaifenesin as the syrup's expectorant ingredient.

Forms

expectorant · expectorants

expectorate verb — To cough mucus out of the airways.

expectoration noun — The act of coughing mucus out.

Similar words

mucolytic: Specifically thins mucus rather than broadly helping clear it.