Health Vocabulary: Illnesses, Symptoms and Treatment

Learn useful health vocabulary for illnesses, symptoms, doctors, treatment and recovery, with natural phrases and exercises with answers.

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Introduction to Health Vocabulary

Health vocabulary is useful for everyday conversation, travelling, visiting a doctor and describing how you feel.

You may need to talk about:

  • illnesses and common health problems
  • symptoms
  • doctors and hospitals
  • medicine and treatment
  • recovery
  • healthy habits

For example:

I’ve got a sore throat and a cough.
She’s been feeling dizzy all morning.
The doctor gave me a prescription.
It took me about a week to recover.

Learning complete phrases is especially important with health vocabulary because English often uses common combinations such as have a headache, catch a cold, take medicine and make an appointment.

Common illnesses and health problems

Here are some common health and illness vocabulary items.

Common illnesses and health problems with simple meanings
Word / expression Simple meaning
1 cold a common mild illness affecting the nose and throat
2 flu an infectious illness that can cause fever, aches and tiredness
3 headache pain in your head
4 stomach ache pain in your stomach
5 sore throat pain or irritation in your throat
6 cough repeatedly forcing air out of your throat
7 fever an unusually high body temperature
8 infection illness caused by bacteria, viruses or other organisms
9 allergy a reaction to something that is normally harmless
10 food poisoning illness caused by contaminated food
11 injury physical damage to the body
12 back pain pain in your back
13 toothache pain in or around a tooth
14 migraine a severe type of headache
15 rash an area of irritated or red skin

Examples:

I think I’ve caught a cold.
He has a terrible headache.
She developed a rash after using the new product.
I had food poisoning while I was travelling.

Be careful with cold and a cold.

I’m cold.

means your body feels cold.

I have a cold.

means you are ill.

Symptoms vocabulary

A symptom is a physical or mental change that may indicate an illness or health problem.

Common symptoms include:

pain
tiredness
dizziness
nausea
vomiting
coughing
sneezing
a runny nose
a blocked nose
a high temperature
chills
weakness
swelling
shortness of breath
loss of appetite
difficulty sleeping

Examples:

I’ve had a runny nose for three days.
She feels nauseous after eating.
My ankle is quite swollen.
I’ve been feeling unusually tired recently.

Ache, pain and hurt

These words are related but used differently.

Ache is often used in compounds:

headache
toothache
stomach ache
backache

Pain is a general noun:

I have a sharp pain in my shoulder.

Hurt is commonly a verb:

My back hurts.
Does your knee hurt?

Natural English often uses:

I’ve got a headache.
My stomach hurts.
I have pain in my lower back.

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Doctors, hospitals and treatment

Useful medical vocabulary for English learners includes:

Doctors, hospitals and treatment vocabulary with simple meanings
Word / expression Meaning
1 GP general practitioner; a family or local doctor
2 specialist doctor with expert knowledge in one area
3 nurse healthcare professional who cares for patients
4 patient person receiving medical care
5 appointment arranged time to see a doctor
6 examination medical check of your body or condition
7 diagnosis identification of an illness or condition
8 treatment medical care used to improve a health problem
9 prescription official instruction allowing you to obtain medicine
10 pharmacy place where medicines are prepared or sold
11 hospital place where people receive medical treatment
12 emergency department hospital department for urgent medical problems

In British English, GP is extremely common:

I need to make an appointment with my GP.

Other useful phrases include:

see a doctor
have an examination
receive treatment
be admitted to hospital
be discharged from hospital
get a prescription
pick up a prescription
go to the pharmacy

Medicine and recovery

Common words connected with medicine include:

medicine
medication
tablet
pill
painkiller
antibiotics
cream
injection
dose
prescription

Useful phrases include:

take medicine
take a tablet
take a painkiller
follow the instructions
finish a course of antibiotics
apply a cream
receive an injection

When talking about recovery, you can use:

recover
get better
feel better
improve
heal
rest

Examples:

I’m starting to feel better.
It took several weeks to recover.
The cut is healing well.
I stayed home and rested for two days.

Recover from is a common collocation:

She recovered from the illness quickly.
He’s still recovering from his injury.

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Healthy-lifestyle vocabulary

Health vocabulary is not only about illness.

Useful words and phrases for a healthy lifestyle include:

balanced diet
regular exercise
healthy eating
physical activity
sleep routine
hydration
stress management
mental wellbeing
fitness
healthy habits

Examples:

Regular exercise can improve your fitness.
I’m trying to maintain a more balanced diet.
Getting enough sleep is an important part of a healthy routine.
Drinking enough water helps you stay hydrated.

Other useful verbs include:

exercise regularly
eat healthily
get enough sleep
reduce stress
drink plenty of water
stay active
look after your health

Health habits are useful when describing your normal day, so review our Daily Routine Vocabulary for more everyday activities and collocations. You can also practise discussing exercise, routines and wellbeing in our IELTS Speaking Part 1 sports questions.

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Useful health collocations

Health vocabulary sounds much more natural when you learn common word combinations.

Have

have a headache
have a fever
have a cough
have an allergy
have an infection

Get

get better
get worse
get injured
get treatment

Catch

catch a cold
catch the flu
catch an infection

Take

take medicine
take a tablet
take time off work
take your temperature

Make

make an appointment
make a full recovery

Feel

feel sick
feel dizzy
feel weak
feel better
feel unwell

Other useful combinations

suffer from allergies
recover from an illness
treat an infection
prescribe medicine
relieve pain
reduce swelling
check your symptoms
seek medical advice

Learning have a headache is much more useful than learning headache alone.

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Talking to a doctor

You do not need advanced English to explain a health problem clearly.

A useful structure is:

problem → duration → symptoms → effect

For example:

I’ve had a sore throat for about three days. I also have a cough and I feel quite tired. It seems to be getting worse.

Useful phrases include:

I’ve got a pain in my...
My ... hurts.
I’ve been feeling...
It started yesterday.
I’ve had it for three days.
It gets worse when...
I’m allergic to...
I’m currently taking...
Is there anything I should avoid?

A doctor may ask:

How long have you had these symptoms?
Where exactly does it hurt?
Have you had a fever?
Are you taking any medication?
Do you have any allergies?

If you do not understand something, you can say:

Could you explain that more simply, please?
Could you repeat that?
What does that word mean?

For real medical concerns, vocabulary can help you communicate, but the actual diagnosis and treatment decisions should be made by a qualified healthcare professional.

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Exercises and answers

Exercise 1: Choose the correct word

  1. Pain in your head is a __________.
    • headache
    • rash
    • cough
  2. A doctor who specialises in one area is a __________.
    • patient
    • specialist
    • pharmacy
  3. A red or irritated area of skin is a __________.
    • rash
    • fever
    • prescription
  4. A place where you collect medicine is a __________.
    • pharmacy
    • diagnosis
    • symptom
  5. Feeling that everything is moving or that you may fall is __________.
    • dizzy
    • swollen
    • blocked
  6. Medical care used to improve a condition is called __________.
    • treatment
    • appointment
    • symptom

Exercise 2: Complete the collocations

Use: catch, make, take, recover, feel, have

  1. __________ a cold
  2. __________ an appointment
  3. __________ medicine
  4. __________ from an illness
  5. __________ dizzy
  6. __________ a headache

Exercise 3: Complete the sentences

  1. I’ve had a sore throat __________ three days.
  2. My back really __________ today.
  3. She is recovering __________ an injury.
  4. The doctor gave me a __________ for some medicine.
  5. I need to make an appointment __________ my GP.
  6. He stayed home because he was feeling __________.

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Answers

Exercise 1

  1. headache
  2. specialist
  3. rash
  4. pharmacy
  5. dizzy
  6. treatment

Exercise 2

  1. catch a cold
  2. make an appointment
  3. take medicine
  4. recover from an illness
  5. feel dizzy
  6. have a headache

Exercise 3

  1. for
  2. hurts
  3. from
  4. prescription
  5. with
  6. unwell

When learning health vocabulary, focus on complete phrases such as have a headache, catch a cold, make an appointment, take medicine and recover from an illness. These combinations will help you describe symptoms and health problems more clearly and naturally.

More Health and Lifestyle English

  • Daily Routine Vocabulary
  • IELTS Speaking Part 1: Sports Questions and Answers
  • Environment Vocabulary

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