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Emergency Medicine & First Aid vocabulary · Medical Emergencies

Choking

Meaning in emergency medicine & first aid, with examples

/ˈtʃoʊkɪŋ/nounCore term

In emergency medicine & first aid, choking means: A blockage of the airway by food or a small object, so that the person cannot breathe, speak or cough properly.

In Turkish: boğulma, hava yolu tıkanması, yabancı cisimle boğulma

How it is used

First aid courses separate mild choking, when the person can still cough, from severe choking, when they cannot. Clinicians call it foreign body airway obstruction (FBAO). The verb is 'choke on': 'He choked on a piece of meat.'

Example sentences

  1. A child is choking on a grape at table six!

  2. The call was coded as choking, but the child was breathing by the time we arrived.

Common collocations

  • severe choking
  • mild choking
  • choking hazard
  • choke on food
  • abdominal thrustsQuick inward and upward pushes just above the navel, used in first aid to force out an object that is blocking a choking person's airway.
  • airwayThe passage that air travels through from the nose and mouth to the lungs; in emergencies, the question is whether it is open or blocked.
  • CPRShort for cardiopulmonary resuscitation: chest compressions, often with rescue breaths, given to someone whose heart has stopped, to keep blood and oxygen moving to the brain.

More terms: Medical Emergencies

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This page explains English vocabulary for learners. It is not medical advice.