Meanings
nounacupuncture (usually uncountable, plural acupunctures)
plural acupunctures
- uncountableusuallyThe insertion of needles into the (living) tissue of the body affecting the Qi or energy along energetic pathways of the body called meridians. This modality is traditionally used as a form of internal medical treating all disease and illnesses, in Western countries it is widely used for the purposes of pain relief.
Chinese doctors at Chishan County Hospital in Shansi Province have used acupuncture on the scalp to cure a patient suffering from paralysis of the right limbs caused by inflammation of the brain’s blood vessels.
1974 October 16, “Acupuncture”, in The Jerusalem Post, volume XLIV, number 14221, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 4, column 2
verbacupuncture (third-person singular simple present acupunctures, present participle acupuncturing, simple past and past participle acupunctured)
present singular third person acupunctures · participle present acupuncturing · participle past acupunctured · past acupunctured
- transitiveTo treat with acupuncture.
Synonyms & antonyms
nountreatment of pain or disease by inserting the tips of needles at specific points on the skin
Similar
Broader
Also see
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*h₂eḱ-
- Proto-Italic*akus
- Latinacus
- Proto-Indo-European*pewǵ-
- Proto-Italic*pungō
- Latinpungō
- Latinpūnctus
- Latinpūnctūra
- New Latinacūpūnctūra
- Englishacupuncture
Learned borrowing from New Latin acūpūnctūra, from Latin acus + pūnctūra. First attested in 1684. By surface analysis, acu- + puncture.
More words from New Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Afrikaans akupunktuur
- akupunktuurinsertion of needles for remedial purposes
Arabic الوَخْز بِالْإِبْر
- الوَخْز بِالْإِبْر (al-waḵz bi-l-ʔibr)insertion of needles for remedial purposes
Basque akupuntura
- akupunturainsertion of needles for remedial purposes
Bengali আকুপাংচার
- আকুপাংচার (akupaṅcar)insertion of needles for remedial purposes
Bulgarian акупункту́ра
- акупункту́ра (akupunktúra)insertion of needles for remedial purposes
Catalan acupuntura
- acupunturainsertion of needles for remedial purposes
Chinese Cantonese 針灸 /针灸, 針術 /针术
- 針灸 /针灸 (zam¹ gau³)insertion of needles for remedial purposes
- 針術 /针术 (zam¹ seot⁶)insertion of needles for remedial purposes
Chinese Mandarin 針灸 /针灸, 針術 /针术
- 針灸 /针灸 (zhēnjiǔ)insertion of needles for remedial purposes
- 針術 /针术 (zhēnshù)insertion of needles for remedial purposes
Czech akupunktura
- akupunkturainsertion of needles for remedial purposes
Danish akupunktur
- akupunkturinsertion of needles for remedial purposes
Dutch acupunctuur
- acupunctuurinsertion of needles for remedial purposes
Esperanto akupunkturo
- akupunkturoinsertion of needles for remedial purposes
Estonian akupunktuur, nõelravi
- akupunktuurinsertion of needles for remedial purposes
- nõelraviinsertion of needles for remedial purposes
Finnish akupunktio, hoitaa akupunktiolla
- akupunktioinsertion of needles for remedial purposes
- hoitaa akupunktiollato treat with acupuncture
- antaa akupunktiohoitoato treat with acupuncture
French acupuncture
- acupunctureinsertion of needles for remedial purposes
German Akupunktur
- Akupunkturinsertion of needles for remedial purposes
Greek βελονισμός
- βελονισμός (velonismós)insertion of needles for remedial purposes
Hebrew דִּקּוּר סִינִי, דיקור סיני
- דִּקּוּר סִינִיinsertion of needles for remedial purposes
- דיקור סיני (dikur sini)insertion of needles for remedial purposes
Hindi एक्यूपंक्चर
- एक्यूपंक्चर (ekyūpaṅkcar)insertion of needles for remedial purposes
Hungarian akupunktúra
- akupunktúrainsertion of needles for remedial purposes
Icelandic nálastungulækningar
- nálastungulækningarinsertion of needles for remedial purposes
Indonesian akupunktur, tusuk jarum
- akupunkturinsertion of needles for remedial purposes
- tusuk jaruminsertion of needles for remedial purposes
Irish snáthaidpholladh
- snáthaidpholladhinsertion of needles for remedial purposes
Italian agopuntura
- agopunturainsertion of needles for remedial purposes
Japanese 鍼, 鍼治療
- 鍼 (hari)insertion of needles for remedial purposes
- 鍼治療 (harichiryō)insertion of needles for remedial purposes
- 鍼治 (shinji)insertion of needles for remedial purposes
- 鍼術 (shinjutsu)insertion of needles for remedial purposes
Korean 침술
- 침술 (chimsul)insertion of needles for remedial purposes
Latin acūpūnctūra
- acūpūnctūrainsertion of needles for remedial purposes
Latvian akupunktūra
- akupunktūrainsertion of needles for remedial purposes
Lithuanian akupunktūra
- akupunktūrainsertion of needles for remedial purposes
Malay akupunktur
- akupunkturinsertion of needles for remedial purposes
Māori hauora-ā-ngira, haumanu-ā-ngira
- hauora-ā-ngirainsertion of needles for remedial purposes
- haumanu-ā-ngirainsertion of needles for remedial purposes
Norwegian Bokmål akupunktur
- akupunkturinsertion of needles for remedial purposes
Persian طب سوزنی
- طب سوزنی (tebb-e suzani)insertion of needles for remedial purposes
Polish akupunktura
- akupunkturainsertion of needles for remedial purposes
Portuguese acupuntura, acupunturar
- acupunturainsertion of needles for remedial purposes
- acupunturarto treat with acupuncture
Punjabi ਐਕਿਉਪੰਕਚਰ
- ਐਕਿਉਪੰਕਚਰ (aikiupaṅkcar)insertion of needles for remedial purposes
Romanian acupunctură
- acupuncturăinsertion of needles for remedial purposes
Russian акупункту́ра, иглоука́лывание
- акупункту́ра (akupunktúra)insertion of needles for remedial purposes
- иглоука́лывание (igloukályvanije)insertion of needles for remedial purposes
- ѝглорефлѐксотерапи́я (ìgloreflèksoterapíja)insertion of needles for remedial purposes
- ѝглотерапи́я (ìgloterapíja)insertion of needles for remedial purposes
- де́лать иглоука́лывание (délatʹ igloukályvanije)to treat with acupuncture
- де́лать акупункту́ру (délatʹ akupunktúru)to treat with acupuncture
Slovak akupunktúra
- akupunktúrainsertion of needles for remedial purposes
Spanish acupuntura
- acupunturainsertion of needles for remedial purposes
Swedish akupunktur
- akupunkturinsertion of needles for remedial purposes
Tagalog akupungktura
- akupungkturainsertion of needles for remedial purposes
Tamil குத்தூசி மருத்துவம்
- குத்தூசி மருத்துவம் (kuttūci maruttuvam)insertion of needles for remedial purposes
Thai การฝังเข็ม, ฝังเข็ม
- การฝังเข็ม (gaan-fǎng-kěm)insertion of needles for remedial purposes
- ฝังเข็ม (fǎng-kěm)insertion of needles for remedial purposes
Turkish akupunktur
- akupunkturinsertion of needles for remedial purposes
Ukrainian акупункту́ра
- акупункту́ра (akupunktúra)insertion of needles for remedial purposes
Vietnamese châm cứu
- châm cứuinsertion of needles for remedial purposes
Welsh aciwbigo
- aciwbigoinsertion of needles for remedial purposes
Cite this entry
APA
acupuncture. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/acupuncture
MLA
“acupuncture.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/acupuncture. Accessed November 2, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “acupuncture,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/acupuncture.
Source: acupuncture on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.