sphygmology

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noun

The study of the pulse.

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Scrabble 26

Meanings

nounsphygmology (uncountable)
  1. historicaluncountableusuallymedicineThe study of the pulse.

    Sphygmology only developed in the Alexandrian period, a couple of centuries after Hippocrates.

    1880, American Journal of Philology, page 290
    5 more examples

    Tactile Sphygmology, probably the most ancient among the branches of medical science, is now far behind some of its younger sisters.

    1895, W. Wood, Heart Studies, Chiefly Clinical: I. The Pulse-sensations: a Study in Tactile Sphygmology

    Also, although sphygmology, or pulse lore, is absent from the Āyurvedic classics, it was well developed in Yunānī medicine, and became the symbol of an Āyurvedic physician's skill. The reputation of sphygmology was such that by the nineteenth and twentieth centuries it had become more a technique of divination than a rational diagnostic method.

    1976, Charles M. Leslie, editor, Asian Medical Systems: A Comparative Study, page 356

    The procedure of pulse palpation is termed sphygmology, literally meaning 'the study of the pulse'.

    2007, Sean Walsh, Pulse Diagnosis: A Clinical Guide

    This emphasis on the skilful feeling of the pulse made sphygmology one area of Renaissance medicine in which the much-vaunted theoretical division between physicians, who did not touch their patients, and surgeons, who routinely got their hands dirty, broke down in practice.

    2014, Joe Moshenska, Feeling Pleasures: The Sense of Touch in Renaissance England

    This was the case with the diagnostic techniques of uroscopy and sphygmology, and with prognosis, best represented by the Hippocratic Prognosticon.

    2015, Peter Dendle, editor, Health and Healing from the Medieval Garden

    Synonyms: pulsology

Synonyms & antonyms

nounThe study of the pulse.

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Origin

Cite this entry
APA

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

MLA

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

Chicago

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

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