# Latin Medical Abbreviations
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latin-medical-abbreviations/821146
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [September 11, 2018, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latin-medical-abbreviations/821146 "2018-09-11T02:15:29Z")
**Posts on this page:** 9
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)
#### Post date: [September 11, 2018, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latin-medical-abbreviations/821146/1 "2018-09-11T02:15:29Z")
I know “PO” means “by mouth”, and “PRN” means “as needed”. So, I was wondering what may be the Latin phrase (and abbreviation), if any, for “puffs”. For example, an inhaler usually requires two puffs per use as a dosage. Also, out of morbid curiosity, what would be the Latin for a suppository or enema “by butt”? (You just knew I HAVE to ask!)
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### Author:  [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)
#### Post date: [September 11, 2018, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latin-medical-abbreviations/821146/2 "2018-09-11T02:52:47Z")
The only thing I’m seeing is “puffs” along with the standard latin stating when/how often to take it. For example, two puffs po q4-6h or two puffs po prn
And “by butt” would be pr (by rectum).
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### Author:  [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)
#### Post date: [September 11, 2018, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latin-medical-abbreviations/821146/3 "2018-09-11T06:30:22Z")
Are we expecting the relevant professionals to actually be fluent in Latin? I suppose “puffs” would be something like “flamina” or flabra (don’t take my word for it, though). Though I’d be worried that patients might not understand instructions in abbreviated Latin and that’s asking for trouble when someone screws up their medication.
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### Author:  [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)
#### Post date: [September 11, 2018, 6:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latin-medical-abbreviations/821146/4 "2018-09-11T06:46:43Z")
What you’re looking for are sig codes, from _sig_ ~ signa, signetur ~ write (write on the label).
Best I could find for me: _PF_ one puff, _PFS_ two puffs.
BTW, the inhaler is _MDI_.
Sadly, or happily, the ER doctor that saw my meds list (and MHx - **M** edical **H** istory) on Saturday said it was the best he’d ever seen.
CMC fnord!
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### Author:  [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)
#### Post date: [September 11, 2018, 7:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latin-medical-abbreviations/821146/5 "2018-09-11T07:04:06Z")
There is an old tale of some expensive private school that sent out a letter announcing that its fees would go up to so much “per anum”. One parent wrote back to say they preferred to pay through the nose.
Coincidentally, there’s been some professional encouragement here in the UK for hospital doctors to move more towards plain language in letters:
[https://www.pharmaceutical-journal.com/news-and-analysis/news-in-brief/doctors-encouraged-to-write-directly-to-patients-using-plain-english/20205403.article](https://www.pharmaceutical-journal.com/news-and-analysis/news-in-brief/doctors-encouraged-to-write-directly-to-patients-using-plain-english/20205403.article)
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### Author:  [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)
#### Post date: [September 11, 2018, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latin-medical-abbreviations/821146/6 "2018-09-11T17:34:21Z")
> [@DPRK](#):
>
> I suppose “puffs” would be something like “flamina” or flabra
The dictionary also has _spiramina_ (“poet. and in post-class. prose”). Anyway, perhaps better suited to alchemical monographs rather than medicine bottles.
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### Author:  [@Cub\_Mistress](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cub_Mistress)
#### Post date: [September 12, 2018, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latin-medical-abbreviations/821146/7 "2018-09-12T01:12:25Z")
nurses are the BOMB at this jargon? Patois? I’m not sure what to call it.
NPO= nil per os = nothing by mouth
puff is just English for use your Metered Dose Inhaler (MDI) to send out an amount of medication for you to inhale quickly.
some meds are given per rectum or per vagina meaning into the rectum or into the vagina, respectively.
OS means Oculus Sinister= Left eye, OD means Oculus Dexter= right eye
there is a push here in the US to use plainer language, and to use computer to type out the scripts, rather than those scrawls the doctors use
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### Author:  [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)
#### Post date: [September 12, 2018, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latin-medical-abbreviations/821146/8 "2018-09-12T02:05:22Z")
> [@Cub\_Mistress](#):
>
> nurses are the BOMB at this jargon? Patois? I’m not sure what to call it. {…}
Shibboleth?
CMC fnord!
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### Author:  [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)
#### Post date: [September 12, 2018, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latin-medical-abbreviations/821146/9 "2018-09-12T03:33:40Z")
If I remember my history correctly, Latin was chosen, probably Eurocentricly, to reduce the confusion of languages. Puffs is a fairly recent invention that has to be comprehensible to pts, so I doubt it originates from Latin