Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
💧 Medical fluid 🧬 Crystal deposit 🔷 Crystal-like
crystalloid

crystalloid

1 6.7
A medical fluid with small salt molecules that move into body cells
  • noun
  • /ˈkrɪstəlɔɪd/
  • Specialized
translation icon : cristaloide
  • The doctor recommended administering crystalloid fluids to help stabilize the patient's blood pressure.
  • balanced crystalloids

Examples

  • Monitoring the hemodynamic parameters is extremely important, and providing rapid crystalloid fluid replacement to offset hypovolemia from third spacing is very important as well.

    Academic text (2004)

  • In cases of dehydration, healthcare professionals often use crystalloid solutions to replenish fluids in the body.

  • During surgery, the anesthesiologist started the infusion of crystalloid fluids to maintain the patient's hydration.

Surface Forms

crystalloid singular
crystalloids plural

Morphology

crystalloid = crystal (opaque) = crystal + oid

The medical sense 'crystalloid solution' is a specialised technical meaning (a class of fluids) that is not readily deducible by an average learner from 'crystal' + '-oid'.

Etymology

Crystalloid comes from crystal plus the ending -oid, meaning 'like', and gives a clear image: a liquid made of tiny salt parts that behave like dissolved crystals. That's why doctors call saline and similar clear fluids 'crystalloids'—they are fluids made of small particles that move easily through the body.