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Glite Dictionary
X-ray therapy

X-ray therapy

3.6
A medical treatment that uses X-rays to kill cancer cells
  • noun
  • /ˈɛksˌreɪ ˈθɛrəpi/
  • Specialized
translation icon : terapia de rayos X
  • The doctor recommended X-ray therapy to treat her cancer effectively.

Examples

  • X-ray therapy

    Academic text (1995)

  • After reviewing his options, he chose X-ray therapy as his primary treatment for the tumor.

  • Many patients benefit from X-ray therapy, especially those with localized tumors.

Synonyms

radiation therapy
vsX-ray therapy
  • Specialized
7 3.9

A treatment that uses strong beams of energy to kill cancer cells

uses one specific ray type rather than all high-energy rays

Surface Forms

X-ray therapy singular
X-ray therapies plural

Morphology

X-ray + therapy

The meaning 'the use of X-rays to treat diseases' is directly and predictably composed from 'X-ray' (a type of radiation) + 'therapy' (medical treatment); a B1 learner who knows both constituent words can infer this meaning. This is a regular noun–noun compound following common medical naming patterns (and parallels in other languages), so it is transparent.

Etymology

X-ray therapy comes from the use of X-rays, an invisible beam first called 'X' because it was unknown, and therapy, meaning 'treatment'. Doctors found these invisible rays could reach and shrink or kill tumors inside the body, so X-ray therapy means 'treatment using X-rays'.