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Kana: ないか Romaji: naika Level: N2

内科

Meaning in English

internist clinic, internal medicine

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Word context

What it means

内科 means internal medicine. It is the medical specialty that focuses on non-surgical diagnosis, treatment, and ongoing care of diseases affecting adults, emphasizing broad clinical assessment and long-term management.

Main meanings

  • Department or division in hospitals focusing on non-surgical care for adults.
  • The medical specialty responsible for diagnosing and treating a wide range of conditions that affect the body's internal systems without surgery.
  • Practitioners in this field are called internists; the term also appears on signage for the internal medicine department.

How to use it

Used in formal medical contexts including hospital departments, outpatient referrals, medical records, and clinical discussions; commonly paired with modifiers to specify scope, like 総合内科 or 内科学; appropriate for formal reports and patient communication in clinical settings.

Variants and close terms

  • 内科学 (naikagaku) — the science or study of internal medicine
  • 総合内科 (sōgo naika) — general internal medicine or the general internal medicine department
  • 内科領域 (naika-ryōiki) — the internal medicine domain or field

Composition

  • 内: inside, inner
  • 科: department, division
  • Combination: inside department; denotes the medical field addressing diseases of the body's internal systems

Etymology

内 is read nai or uchi meaning inside; 科 is read ka and means department or branch; together they form a compound that designates the medical field addressing internal body processes.

Word class

noun (名詞)

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