ICU

I1C3U1

A form of intensive care unit — A part of a hospital into which critically ill patients, in danger of dying, are admitted and closely monitored.

Less commonScrabble 5

Meanings

nounICU (plural ICUs)

plural ICUs

  1. abbreviationinitialismmedicineInitialism of intensive care unit.

    A day earlier, state epidemiologist Dr. Paul Byers warned the minimal available ICU capacity meant dozens of patients are waiting in emergency rooms for an ICU bed. […] “We desperately needed the nursing support because our ICUs are so inundated with critically ill Covid patients,” Brown said.

    2021 August 14, Christina Maxouris, “‘Bursting at the seams’: Full ICUs are creating a dangerous ER backlog and forcing hospitals to cancel surgeries”, in CNN

    Synonyms: CCU, ITU

  2. abbreviationinitialismtransportInitialism of intersection capacity utilization: a measure of the capacity of a roadway intersection.
proper noun
  1. abbreviationinitialismInitialism of International Christian University, a private university located in Tokyo.
  2. abbreviationinitialismUnicodecomputingInitialism of International Components for Unicode: software libraries supporting internationalization.
  3. abbreviationhistoricalinitialismInitialism of Islamic Courts Union: a belligerent in Somali Civil War.
phrase
  1. InternetabbreviationAbbreviation of I see you.

Synonyms & antonyms

More synonyms by meaning

nouna hospital unit staffed and equipped to provide intensive care

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Translations

Basque ZIU (zainketa intentsiboetako unitatea)
  • ZIU (zainketa intentsiboetako unitatea)intensive care unit
Catalan UCI
  • UCIintensive care unit
Chinese Mandarin 監護病房 /监护病房, 重病監護室 /重病监护室
  • 監護病房 /监护病房 (jiānhù bìngfáng)intensive care unit
  • 重病監護室 /重病监护室 (zhòngbìng jiānhùshì)intensive care unit
  • 加護病房 /加护病房 (jiāhù bìngfáng)intensive care unit
Czech JIP
  • JIPintensive care unit
Finnish teho
  • tehointensive care unit
French réa
  • réaintensive care unit
German Intensivstation, Intensiv
  • Intensivstationintensive care unit
  • Intensivintensive care unit
  • ISintensive care unit
  • IPSintensive care unit
Greek ΜΕΘ
  • ΜΕΘ (METh)intensive care unit
Hungarian intenzív, ITO
  • intenzívintensive care unit
  • ITOintensive care unit
Indonesian ICU
  • ICUintensive care unit
Japanese ICU (ICU)
  • ICU (ICU)intensive care unit
Polish OIT (oddział intensywnej terapii), OITM
  • OIT (oddział intensywnej terapii)intensive care unit
  • OITMintensive care unit
Portuguese UTI, UCI
  • UTIintensive care unit
  • UCIintensive care unit
Russian ОРИТ
  • ОРИТ (ORIT)intensive care unit
Slovak JIS
  • JISintensive care unit
Spanish UCI, uti
  • UCIintensive care unit
  • utiintensive care unit
Swedish IVA, iva
  • IVAintensive care unit
  • ivaintensive care unit
Thai หน่วยอภิบาล, ไอซียู
  • หน่วยอภิบาล (nùai-à-pí-baan)intensive care unit
  • ไอซียู (ai-sii-yuu)intensive care unit
Vietnamese HSTC (hồi sức tích cực)
  • HSTC (hồi sức tích cực)intensive care unit

Rhymes & wordplay

Anagrams

Cite this entry
APA

ICU. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ICU

MLA

“ICU.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ICU. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “ICU,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ICU.

Source: ICU on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.