Homonyms in medicine; a perspective

Abstract

In linguistics, a homonym is, in the strict sense, one of a group of words that share spelling and pronunciation but may have different meanings. Thus homonyms are simultaneously homographs (words that share the same spelling, regardless of their pronunciation) and homophones (words that share the same pronunciation, regardless of their spelling) [1].One can find easily a name in medicine which be perceived as 2 different meanings [2]. Table 1, list few examples, and Table 2 [2-6], focus on few eponyms which can be misunderstood as related to countries.Acronyms might be considered a major source for homonyms. Acronyms such as CHILD, CLOVE, KID, LEOPARD, NAME, and POEM might cause confusion to the patient as to the relation to the other meanings of these acronyms [7]. CLOVE syndrome stands for (congenital lipomatous overgrowth, vascular malformations, and epidermal nevus) [8].The Eponyms are the most common type of medical names which may cause confusion with other names, inside and outside medical field [1]. A previous paper in this journal highlighted on this issue1. From which I am copying the following segment; Similar name might be thought for and confused with another person, for example verrucous carcinoma of Ackerman is named after Lauren Vedder Ackerman (1905-1993) and not, A. Bernard Ackerman (1936-2008).One may see also identical names for 2 different eponyms.For examples “Sjogren” in “Sjogren’s syndrome” (Sicca syndrome), is named after Henrik Samuel Conrad Sjogren (1899-1986), Swedish ophthalmologist. Whereas, “Sjogren”, in “Sjogren-Larsson syndrome”,