Meaning & use
melaena
Last updated
Meaning
noununcountablemedical
Black, sticky, foul-smelling stools caused by digested blood, usually a sign of bleeding in the upper digestive tract.
Grammar: Uncountable: the patient presented with melaena.
Patterns
- present with melaena
- melaena and vomiting
The patient arrived at the hospital with melaena and dizziness.
Melaena often points to bleeding from a stomach ulcer.
The nurse noted melaena in the chart.
Common combinations
- present with melaena
- He presented with melaena and severe fatigue.
- melaena stool
- A melaena stool is typically black and tarry.
- cause of melaena
- The doctors searched for the cause of melaena.
- signs of melaena
- She was checked for signs of melaena.
Synonyms and how they differ
- black stool
- Black stool is the everyday description, while melaena is the formal medical term for the symptom.
- tarry stool
- Tarry stool describes its appearance in plain words, while melaena implies the blood origin.
Word family
- melaenic adjective
- relating to melaena
- haematemesis noun
- vomiting of blood, often seen with melaena
Commonly confused: melaena or haematochezia?
melaena vs haematochezia
Haematochezia is fresh red blood in the stool, while melaena is dark and tarry because the blood has been digested.
Practice
What does melaena usually suggest?
Choose one answer.
Melaena is black stool made of digested blood, which points to bleeding high in the digestive system. The other options are not linked to it.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “melaena”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.