Standard Lemma guide

tonsillectomy

noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • rhymes with -ɛktəmi
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: T AA2 N S IH0 L EH1 K T AH0 M IY2 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

The surgical removal of the tonsils, especially the palatine tonsils. Frequently accompanied by an adenoidectomy.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: medicine, sciences, surgery

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

surgical removal of the palatine tonsils; commonly performed along with adenoidectomy

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: ablation, extirpation, cutting out, excision

History

Etymology

Etymology tree English tonsil Proto-Indo-European *h1éǵh Proto-Indo-European *-s Proto-Indo-European *h1eǵhs Proto-Hellenic *eks Ancient Greek ἐκ (ek) Ancient Greek ἐκ- (ek-) Proto-Indo-European *temh1- Proto-Indo-European *-né- Ancient Greek τέμνω (témnō) Ancient Greek ἐκτέμνω (ektémnō) Proto-Indo-European *-h2 Proto-Indo-European *-éh2 Ancient Greek -ᾱ (-ā) Ancient Greek -η (-ē) Ancient Greek ἐκτομή (ektomḗ)der. English -ectomy English tonsillectomy From tonsil + -ectomy.

Across languages

Translations

41 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Catalan: amigdalectomia — surgical removal of tonsils
  • Catalan: amigdalotomia — surgical removal of tonsils
  • Chinese Mandarin: 扁桃體切除手術 /扁桃体切除手术 (biǎntáotǐ qiēchú shǒushù) — surgical removal of tonsils
  • Czech: tonzilektomie — surgical removal of tonsils
  • Danish: tonsillektomi — surgical removal of tonsils
  • Dhivehi: ޓޮންސިލް ނެގުން (ṭon̊sil negun̊) — surgical removal of tonsils
  • Dutch: tonsillectomie — surgical removal of tonsils
  • Finnish: tonsillektomia — surgical removal of tonsils
  • Finnish: nielurisojen typistysleikkaus — surgical removal of tonsils
  • French: tonsillectomie — surgical removal of tonsils
  • French: amygdalectomie — surgical removal of tonsils
  • Galician: amigdalectomía — surgical removal of tonsils
  • Galician: tonsilectomía — surgical removal of tonsils
  • German: Tonsillektomie — surgical removal of tonsils
  • Greek: αμυγδαλεκτομή (amygdalektomí) — surgical removal of tonsils
  • Hebrew: נִתּוּחַ שְׁקֵדִים (nitúakh shkedím) — surgical removal of tonsils
  • Indonesian: tonsilektomi — surgical removal of tonsils
  • Interlingua: tonsillectomia — surgical removal of tonsils
  • Irish: céislíneachtóime — surgical removal of tonsils
  • Italian: tonsillectomia — surgical removal of tonsils
  • Japanese: 扁桃摘出術 (hentō tekishutsu-jutsu) — surgical removal of tonsils
  • Japanese: 扁桃腺摘出術 (hentōsen tekishutsu-jutsu) — surgical removal of tonsils
  • Latin: tonsillectomia — surgical removal of tonsils
  • Lithuanian: tonzilektomija — surgical removal of tonsils
  • Macedonian: тонзилектомија (tonzilektomija) — surgical removal of tonsils
  • Mongolian: тонзилэктоми (tonzilektomi) — surgical removal of tonsils
  • Norwegian Bokmål: tonsillektomi — surgical removal of tonsils
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: tonsillektomi — surgical removal of tonsils
  • Polish: tonsillektomia — surgical removal of tonsils
  • Portuguese: amigdalectomia — surgical removal of tonsils
  • Portuguese: tonsilectomia — surgical removal of tonsils
  • Russian: тонзиллэктоми́я (tonzillɛktomíja) — surgical removal of tonsils
  • Serbo-Croatian: тонзилекто̀мија — surgical removal of tonsils
  • Serbo-Croatian: tonzilektòmija — surgical removal of tonsils
  • Slovak: tonzilektómia — surgical removal of tonsils
  • Slovene: tonzilektomija — surgical removal of tonsils
  • Spanish: amigdalectomía — surgical removal of tonsils
  • Swedish: tonsillektomi — surgical removal of tonsils
  • Tagalog: alisgutil — surgical removal of tonsils
  • Ukrainian: тонзилектомія (tonzylektomija) — surgical removal of tonsils
  • Welsh: tonsilectomi — surgical removal of tonsils