Patients (noun) refers to people receiving medical care or treatment, or to those who are under medical supervision. It can also describe a plural sense of the adjective patient when used in compound phrases, but primarily denotes individuals in a clinical setting. The term is common in healthcare discourse and everyday talk about visiting or treating someone.
"The hospital has several patients waiting in the lobby."
"She documented the patients’ symptoms in the medical chart."
"A patient-centered approach improves trust between doctors and families."
"The clinic schedules follow-up appointments for their patients every Tuesday."
Patients comes from the Late Middle English patient, from Old French patient, from Latin patēns, patient-, present participle of patī “to endure, suffer.” The word originally described someone undergoing a medical treatment or enduring an illness, emphasizing endurance and waiting. In medical contexts, it evolved to denote an individual receiving care or treatment, distinguishing them from the caregiver or physician. The broader sense of “one who endures” contributed to its use in phrases like “patient waiting” or “patiently,” but in everyday medical English, it fully migrated to refer to the person seeking or receiving care. First known use in English traces to Medieval Latin-inflected forms via Norman French influence as medical Latin terms entered Middle English, around the 13th–14th centuries. Over time, the term stabilized into a standard clinical noun, retaining the core sense of a person under treatment or waiting for a diagnosis, while also appearing in general language to describe the quality of endurance associated with the noun’s etymology.
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Words that rhyme with "Patients"
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Pronunciation: /ˈpeɪ.ʃənts/ in US and AU, with rhotic non-rhotic tendencies in some UK speech. Start with the long A in ‘pay’ followed by a reduced schwa in the second syllable, and end with /nts/ as in ‘nants.’ Emphasize the first syllable. Listen for a brief vowel reduction in casual speech: /ˈpeɪ.ənts/ can occur in rapid speech, but the standard form is /ˈpeɪ.ʃənts/. Mouth positions: /peɪ/ is a mouth-widening glide into a mid-open /eɪ/, then a relaxed /ʃə/ for the “shuh” sound, and finish with /nts/ using a light tongue-tip contact at the alveolar ridge.
Common errors include misplacing stress (releasing it on the second syllable) and over-pronouncing the second syllable as /ˈpeɪ-tʃənts/ or /ˈpeɪ.si.nts/. Correct by keeping primary stress on the first syllable and producing /ʃ/ as a single palatal-velar sound, not a /tʃ/ blend. Ensure the /ə/ is reduced, not fully pronounced. Final /nts/ should be a quick, crisp nasal-alveolar cluster rather than a rounded or elongated ending.
US and AU typically use /ˈpeɪ.ʃənts/ with clear /eɪ/ then /ʃə/. UK often features a slightly shorter /eɪ/ and a more centralized /ə/; some speakers may reduce to /ˈpeɪnts/ in very casual speech. Non-rhotic UK varieties may omit postvocalic r-like effects; however, /ˈpeɪ.ʃənts/ remains recognizable. In all, the first syllable carries primary stress; the second syllable remains reduced and fast. Auditory cues include the /ʃ/ sequence and the final /nts/ cluster.
Three key challenges: 1) The /eɪ/ diphthong in the first syllable, which can shift toward /e/ or /ei/ in rapid speech. 2) The /ʃ/ sound in the middle—unlike /tʃ/—which requires a precise tongue-blade position against the roof of the mouth. 3) The final /nts/ cluster can become syllabic or devoice in fast speech, making it sound like /nts/ or /nts̩/. Focus on maintaining a clean /ʃ/ and finishing with a crisp /nts/ rather than slurring.
Could the word merge with a following sound in connected speech, like when followed by a verb starting with a consonant? In careful speech you’ll keep /ˈpeɪ.ʃənts/ clearly separated from the next word, but in fast connected speech you might elide slightly, e.g., /ˈpeɪ.ʃənts tər/ leading to a subtle linking sound. The best approach is to maintain the primary syllabic rhythm of PAY-shents and allow natural linking without sacrificing the /ʃənts/ integrity.
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