Lung

How it is used

Often used in the plural: the lungs. The technical adjective is pulmonary (pulmonary artery, pulmonary function tests), and pneumo- also appears in some words. Each lung is covered by a thin membrane called the pleura.

Example sentences

1. The left lung is slightly smaller because it makes room for the heart.

2. Listen to both lungs at the front and the back of the chest.

Common collocations

• right lung
• lung function
• lung capacity
• lobe of the lung
• pulmonary

Related terms

• tracheaThe windpipe: the tube that carries air from the larynx down into the chest, where it divides into the right and left main bronchi. C-shaped rings of cartilage keep it open.
• alveolusOne of the millions of tiny air sacs at the ends of the airways in the lungs. Their thin walls are surrounded by capillaries, and this is where oxygen and carbon dioxide are exchanged.
• respirationThe process of taking in oxygen and getting rid of carbon dioxide. It covers breathing (ventilation), gas exchange in the lungs and tissues, and the use of oxygen inside cells (cellular respiration).
• diaphragmThe dome-shaped sheet of muscle that separates the chest from the abdomen. When it contracts it flattens and draws air into the lungs; it is the main muscle of breathing.
• gas exchangeThe movement of oxygen into the blood and carbon dioxide out of it by diffusion, across the walls of the alveoli and capillaries in the lungs, and between the blood and the tissues.

More terms: Heart, Circulation and Breathing

• heart
• artery
• vein
• capillary
• blood pressure
• ventricle
• atrium
• red blood cell
• cardiac cycle
• lymph node