How to Pronounce Diverticulosis

Diverticulosis is pronounced dy-ver-tik-yoo-LOH-sis. Break it into five syllables: dy-VER-tik-yoo-LOH-sis. The stress falls on the fourth syllable, "LOH," which is where your voice gets a little louder and longer when you say it.

Many people accidentally stress the wrong syllable and say dy-ver-TIK-yoo-losis or dy-ver-tik-yoo-loh-SIS. Remember: the stress belongs on "LOH," not on "TIK" or at the end of the word.

Diverticulosis comes from Latin roots: "diverticulum" means a small pouch or branch that goes off to the side, and the suffix "-osis" means a condition or state of having something. So the word literally means "the condition of having small pouches."

Diverticulosis simply means having small bulging pouches in the lining of your digestive tract. It's the name for the condition itself, not a description of what's happening or how someone feels.

Both words start the same way but have different endings. Diverticulosis (dy-ver-tik-yoo-LOH-sis) is the condition of having pouches. Diverticulitis (dy-ver-tik-yoo-LY-tis) is when those pouches become inflamed or infected—the "-itis" suffix means inflammation.

Diverticulosis breaks into five syllables: dy / ver / tic / u / lo / sis. If you say each part separately and then speed them up, you'll get the full word: dy-VER-tik-yoo-LOH-sis.

Here's an example: "During the doctor's visit, the patient learned that the imaging results showed diverticulosis." In this sentence, diverticulosis is the name of the condition being discussed.

Words like diverticulum (the singular form—one pouch), diverticulitis (when the pouches are inflamed), and diverticular (an adjective meaning "related to pouches") all share the same Latin root.