ngoại khoa

Vietnamese

Etymology

Sino-Vietnamese word from 外科, composed of 外 (“external”) and 科 (“branch; department”). The contrast between 外科 (wàikē, “surgery”, literally “external branch”) and 内科 (nèikē, “internal medicine”, literally “internal branch”) seemingly has to do with, respectively, "external" and "internal" conditions, but it is also possible because surgery in particular was considered "outside" of or "foreign" to all the disciplines known to traditional East Asian medicine.

Pronunciation

• (Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [ŋwaːj˧˨ʔ xwaː˧˧]
• (Huế) IPA^(key): [ŋwaːj˨˩ʔ kʰwaː˧˧] ~ [ŋwaːj˨˩ʔ xwaː˧˧]
• (Saigon) IPA^(key): [ŋwaːj˨˩˨ kʰwaː˧˧] ~ [ŋwaːj˨˩˨ xwaː˧˧]

Noun

ngoại khoa

1. (medicine) surgery (medical specialty)

   Synonym: khoa ngoại

Usage notes

• Not to be confused with ngoại khoá (“extracurricular”).

See also

• nội khoa