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Glite Dictionary
nongonococcal urethritis

nongonococcal urethritis

6.5
Infection of the tube that carries urine, usually caused by chlamydia and spread during sex
  • noun
  • /ˌnɒŋɡəˈnɒkəkl juːrɪˈθraɪtɪs/
  • Specialized
translation icon : uretritis no gonocócica
  • The doctor explained that nongonococcal urethritis is often caused by chlamydia, a common sexually transmitted infection.

Examples

  • Previous reports suggest that women who are sexual contacts of men with nongonococcal urethritis rarely develop symptomatic oropharyngeal infections following fellatio.

    Academic text (2008)

  • Patients diagnosed with nongonococcal urethritis are advised to inform their partners about the infection.

  • Many young adults do not realize that they can contract nongonococcal urethritis through unprotected sex.

Synonyms

NGU
vsnongonococcal urethritis
  • Jargon
9.6

An infection spread by sex in the tube that carries urine in men, often caused by chlamydia

is the full formal medical name written out rather than shortened

Surface Forms

nongonococcal urethritis singular
nongonococcal urethritides plural

Morphology

nongonococcal + urethritis

The noun phrase is transparently built from the negation prefix and medical roots: non- (not) + gonococcal (relating to gonococcus/gonorrhoea) + urethritis (inflammation of the urethra), so the meaning 'inflammation of the urethra not caused by gonorrhoea' is directly derivable. Although it's technical vocabulary, the composition follows regular morphological rules common across languages, so a learner who knows the constituent parts can infer the MWE's meaning.

Etymology

Nongonococcal urethritis comes from two parts: nongonococcal meaning 'not caused by gonorrhea' and urethritis meaning 'inflammation', which is swelling and pain in the urethra, the tube that carries urine. So, it refers to an inflammation of that urine tube that is not caused by gonorrhea, often from other infections like chlamydia.