Wallace rule of nines

proper noun

A tool used in prehospital and emergency medicine to estimate the total body surface area affected by a burn, assigning percentages (mostly 9%) to various major body parts.

Ask AI about this wordChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

Meanings

proper nounthe Wallace rule of nines
  1. medicineA tool used in prehospital and emergency medicine to estimate the total body surface area affected by a burn, assigning percentages (mostly 9%) to various major body parts.

Origin

Published by Scottish plastic surgeon Alexander Burns Wallace (1906–1974) in 1951.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

Wallace rule of nines. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Wallace%20rule%20of%20nines

MLA

“Wallace rule of nines.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Wallace%20rule%20of%20nines. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Wallace rule of nines,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Wallace%20rule%20of%20nines.

Source: Wallace rule of nines on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.