How to Pronounce Carotid Stenosis

Say it like this: kah-ROT-id steh-NOH-sis. The stress (loudest part) falls on the second syllable of the first word (ROT) and the second syllable of the second word (NOH). Think of it as "kah-ROT-id" (like carrot with an 'id' sound) and "steh-NOH-sis" (like steno-sis).

Carotid refers to the large arteries on each side of your neck that carry blood to your brain and head. The word comes from an old Greek word meaning 'to stupefy,' because pressing on these arteries was known to make someone lose consciousness.

Stenosis is a medical word that means 'narrowing.' It comes from Greek and is used to describe when any tube or passageway in the body becomes abnormally tight or narrow. You'll see this word used with many different body parts.

In everyday words, carotid stenosis is when the large blood vessels in your neck become narrowed. It's like a pipe getting clogged, which can slow down blood flow.

Break it like this: ca-ROT-id ste-NO-sis. That's 6 syllables total—3 in each word. The stressed syllables are ROT (in carotid) and NO (in stenosis).

Many people stress the first syllable and say CAR-ah-tid instead of kah-ROT-id, or they pronounce it like the vegetable 'carrot.' Remember: the emphasis goes on the ROT part, not the beginning.

Yes! Other medical words use 'stenosis' too—like aortic stenosis (narrowing of the aorta) or spinal stenosis (narrowing in the spine). Whenever you see '-stenosis' at the end of a word, it means something is abnormally narrowed.

You might hear: 'The doctor explained that her imaging results showed carotid stenosis on the left side.' This sentence simply states that one of the neck arteries is narrowed, without giving any medical advice.