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Glite Dictionary
RU 486

RU 486

3 7.7
A medicine used to end an early pregnancy by stopping a hormone that keeps the pregnancy
  • noun
  • /ɑːr juː fɔr eɪtɪk sɪks/
  • Specialized
translation icon : RU 486
  • Many women choose RU 486 for early abortion.
  • RU 486 abortion
  • abortion pill RU-486
  • RU 486 drug

Examples

  • Many debates surround the regulation of RU 486 in different parts of the world.

  • The doctor prescribed RU 486 to her patients seeking a medically induced abortion in the early trimester.

  • She chose to use RU 486 after discussing her options with her doctor.

  • The availability of RU 486 has changed the landscape of medical abortion in many countries.

  • The doctor prescribed RU 486 after the consultation.

  • Many women choose RU 486 for its effectiveness in terminating pregnancies safely within the first ten weeks.

  • After discussing her options, she decided to take RU 486 to manage her early-stage pregnancy.

Synonyms

abortion pill
vsRU 486
  • Specialized
4 4.9

A drug taken to end an early pregnancy without surgery

is the specific drug identified by a code rather than the general pill term
mifepristone
vsRU 486
  • Specialized
2 9.7

A medicine that ends early pregnancy by stopping a hormone the body needs

is the brand or code name used instead of the scientific name
abortion-inducing drug
vsRU 486
  • Specialized
1 6.5

A drug that ends a pregnancy by causing the body to remove the unborn baby

is one particular drug example, not the whole class of such agents
aborticide
vsRU 486
  • Specialized
9.9

A drug that makes a pregnancy end before birth

is a single modern medicine rather than any chemical agent that can induce abortion

Surface Forms

RU 486 singular

Morphology

RU + 486

RU 486 is an alphanumeric product/drug code (mifepristone) whose parts 'RU' and '486' carry no independent lexical meanings a learner could compositionally combine. A B1 learner who knows the characters 'RU' and the number '486' would not be able to infer the specific pharmacological meaning (a drug to induce abortion) without prior exposure or explanation, so the expression is lexicalized and non-compositional despite being used cross-linguistically.

Etymology

RU 486 gets its name from the lab code given by the French drug company that made it: RU is short for Roussel Uclaf and 486 was the compound number. Because that short lab name stuck, RU 486 now commonly refers to the pill that is used to 'end an early pregnancy'.