How to Pronounce Arteriolosclerosis

Say it like this: ar-TEER-ee-oh-loh-skler-OH-sis. The stress falls on the second syllable (TEER), which is where most people naturally emphasize it. The word has six syllables total, and it rhymes with other medical words ending in -sclerosis.

The stressed syllable is TEER, which is the second part of the word. A common mistake is putting the stress on skler (making it skler-OH-sis), but the main emphasis should come much earlier in the word, right at the beginning of the second syllable.

The word breaks down like this: ar-TEER-ee-oh-loh-skler-OH-sis. Each of the six syllables is roughly equal in length, which makes the word easier to say if you take it one part at a time instead of rushing through it.

The word comes from three Greek and Latin roots: arterio- (small artery), -scler- (hardening), and -osis (condition or disease). So the word literally means a hardening condition of the small arteries, which is exactly what the medical condition describes.

Arteriolosclerosis means the walls of very small blood vessels become thick and stiff. In everyday terms, you might say the tiny arteries are hardening or losing their flexibility, which makes them work less efficiently.

There is no common abbreviation for arteriolosclerosis, so doctors and medical writers usually say or write out the full word. You may hear it grouped with related sclerosis conditions, but it is not shortened to initials like some other medical terms are.

Words like arteriosclerosis, atherosclerosis, and sclerosis all share the -scler- or -osis root, meaning hardening or disease. Arteriosclerosis is very similar but refers to larger arteries, while arteriolosclerosis specifically means hardening of the smaller arterioles.

You might read or hear: "The patient's medical report mentions arteriolosclerosis as a finding on imaging." This sentence uses the word the way doctors do when documenting what they observe, without giving any medical advice about what it means for the patient.