stercolith
- noun
- /ˈstɜr.kə.lɪθ/
- Specialized
- The surgeon removed a stercolith that had caused the patient's abdominal pain.
Examples
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Blockage of the appendix by a stercolith is a well-known cause of appendicitis.
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Many patients develop stercoliths as a result of constipation.
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A stercolith can sometimes be mistaken for a tumor on medical scans.
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The doctor found a stercolith during the examination.
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Blockage of the appendix by a stercolith is a well-known cause of appendicitis.
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The surgeon removed a stercolith that had caused the patient's abdominal pain.
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A stercolith can sometimes be mistaken for a tumor on medical scans.
Synonyms
A hard piece of dried poop that can block the intestine
A hard mass of dried poop in the intestine or rectum
Surface Forms
Morphology
stercolith = sterco + lith
Although the parts correspond to combining forms meaning 'feces' + 'stone', these are technical Latin/Greek forms (not productive standalone English words), so average learners cannot derive the meaning from the components.
Etymology
Stercolith comes from the Latin stercus ('dung') and the Greek lithos ('stone'). So a stercolith is literally a 'dung stone', a hard mass of feces that can block the intestine.