Meaning & use
cannula
Last updated
Meaning
nouncountablemedical
A thin tube inserted into a vein or other part of the body to give fluids or medicine, or to drain fluid away.
Grammar: Countable; plural cannulas or the Latin form cannulae. Often compounds: intravenous cannula, nasal cannula.
Patterns
- insert a cannula
- an intravenous cannula
- a nasal cannula
- remove a cannula
A nurse inserted a cannula into the back of her hand to give fluids.
The elderly man wore a nasal cannula to help him breathe at night.
Word forms
| plural | cannulas |
|---|---|
| plural (Latin form) | cannulae |
Common combinations
- insert a cannula
- The nurse carefully inserted a cannula into the vein.
- an intravenous cannula
- An intravenous cannula delivered the antibiotics slowly.
- a nasal cannula
- He slept with a nasal cannula supplying oxygen.
- remove a cannula
- The cannula was removed once he could drink normally.
Synonyms and how they differ
- catheter
- A catheter is usually a longer, softer tube for draining fluids or reaching deep inside the body, while a cannula is typically shorter and sits in a vein or the nose.
Word family
- cannulate verb
- To insert a cannula into a patient, used by medical professionals.
Commonly confused: cannula or canola?
cannula vs canola
Canola is a plant grown for its oil and sounds similar to cannula, but the two words have unrelated meanings.
Practice
To deliver fluids directly into the patient's bloodstream, the nurse inserted a small tube called a ___ into a vein in his arm.
Choose one answer.
A cannula is the thin medical tube placed in a vein. A capsule is a pill case, cartilage is body tissue, and canola is merely a similar-sounding word for an oil plant.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “cannula”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.