Glossary of Plain Language Thesaurus For Health Communications

This Plain Language Thesaurus has been put together by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Center for Health Marketing. Our aim is to help make health information clear and easy to understand.

This thesaurus offers plain language equivalents to medical terms, phrases, and references that we often use. The technical terms found in health information can be confusing. This thesaurus is a tool to help you find words that people may understand better.

While the plain language choices given here may not have the specific nuances of meaning that technical terms have, they offer the possibility for better understanding by your audience. With plain language equivalents, it is more important to be understood than to be medically precise.

Precise medical terminology is vital when communicating to those with a technical background. But the public often stumbles over such terms and misunderstands their meaning. This is especially a concern for people who do not speak English as their first language and those without strong reading skills. Reaching your audience-on their terms-is the main goal of plain language.

This is a living document. It is intended to be refined and to grow as more health communicators and experts add words, topics, health conditions, and synonyms. We have started the process of building this tool by defining the scope, format, and broad categories of terms to be included. Excellent existing resources and glossaries from CDC, HHS, universities were reviewed for terms and subject areas. Key sources included

The foundation for the terms in this initial edition was formed when preparing information for the public health threats of an influenza pandemic. We have also included other categories of disease and health conditions to provide a tool that can be referenced to make any health topic more easily understandable.

We invite you to suggest additional terms, plain language synonyms, and topics to be added in future editions. For more information, please contact Sarah Gregory at CDC by email at sgg7@CDC.GOV .

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abscess

sore, wound, infection

abdomen

stomach, stomach area, belly, tummy, abdominal

Legacy document content was shortened in the rebuild to improve performance and fit deployment limits.