Word
内科
Meaning in Englishinternist clinic, internal medicine
Animated kanji stroke order
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)
Related words by kanji and components
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産婦人科
sanfujinka
maternity and gynecology department
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歯科
shika
dentistry
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内閣
naikaku
cabinet, (government)
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内緒
naisho
secrecy, privacy, secret
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内心
naishin
innermost thoughts, real intention, inmost heart
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内蔵
naizou
internal organ; built-in
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内部
naibu
interior, inside, internal
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内乱
nairan
civil war, domestic conflict
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内陸
nairiku
inland