How to Pronounce Cholelithiasis

Cholelithiasis is pronounced koh-lee-lih-THY-ah-sis. Break it into syllables like this: koh-LEE-lih-THY-ah-sis. The stress falls on the fourth syllable, which is THY, so it sounds like you're saying "koh-lee-lih-THIGH-ah-sis" with emphasis on that THIGH part.

Many people stress the wrong syllable and say "KOHL-eh-lith-ee-ah-sis" or put the emphasis on the first or second syllable. The correct stress is on the fourth syllable: koh-lee-lih-THY-ah-sis. Remember to emphasize that THY sound in the middle of the word.

This word comes from three Greek roots: "chole" (pronounced KOH-lee) means bile or gallbladder, "lith" (pronounced LITH) means stone, and "-iasis" (pronounced ee-ah-sis) is a suffix meaning "condition of" or "presence of." Put together, it literally means "condition of stones in the gallbladder."

Cholelithiasis has six syllables: koh-lee-lih-THY-ah-sis. Saying it slowly, one syllable at a time, can help you get comfortable with the full word before speaking it at normal speed.

In plain English, cholelithiasis simply means "gallstones." Doctors use the fancy Greek-based term in medical settings, but "gallstones" is what most people call the condition in everyday conversation.

Yes! Other medical words use "chole" when they relate to the gallbladder or bile. For example, "cholecystitis" (koh-lee-sis-TY-tis) means inflammation of the gallbladder, and "cholesterol" (koh-LES-tuh-rol) is a substance found in bile. These all come from the same Greek root.

You might hear a doctor say: "The imaging results show that the patient has cholelithiasis." Or: "Cholelithiasis was diagnosed during the examination." The word is used as a medical term to name the condition, so it appears when describing what was found or what a patient has.

Cholelithiasis is sometimes written as "CL" in medical shorthand, though this is less common than the full word. You're most likely to see or hear the complete term "cholelithiasis" used in medical contexts.