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Glite Dictionary
sick berth

sick berth

7.5
A room on a ship where staff treat people who are ill or injured
  • noun
  • UK
translation icon : camarote de enfermos
  • The ship's sick berth is equipped with medical supplies to help crew members who become ill at sea.

Examples

  • During the voyage, the captain ordered a patient to be moved to the sick berth for proper care.

  • In times of emergency, the sick berth provides a safe place for injured sailors to receive treatment.

  • "Who could sleep in the sick berth back there?" He led me through the diner to the lounge car.

    Fiction book (1994)

Synonyms

sickbay
vssick berth
  • Specialized
64 6.4

A room on a ship or in a school where sick people are treated

is the shipboard term for the same treatment area
sickroom
vssick berth
1 3.2

A room where an ill person stays to rest and get care

is specifically the ship area for treating ill or injured people

Surface Forms

sick berth singular
sick berths plural

Morphology

sick + berth

The meaning is directly derived from 'sick' (ill) + 'berth' (a built-in bed/space on a ship), so a B1 learner who knows both words can infer it refers to a bed or area for sick people aboard a ship. This is a straightforward compositional noun phrase following common English compounding patterns (cf. sick bay/infirmary), making it easily comprehensible.

Etymology

The term sick berth comes from life on ships. A berth is a bed or small sleeping place, and a sick berth was the bed or little room where an ill sailor rested and got 'treatment', so today it means a 'place on a ship' for sick or injured people.