Pneumonia in Spanish

What it means

Pneumonia is an infection in one or both of the lungs. It causes the air sacs of the lungs to fill up with fluid or pus, and it can range from mild to severe, depending on what caused it, a person's age, and overall health. Bacterial, viral, and fungal infections can cause pneumonia; bacteria are the most common cause. Symptoms listed by MedlinePlus include fever, chills, cough, usually with phlegm, shortness of breath, and chest pain when breathing or coughing. To find out whether someone has pneumonia, a health care provider takes a medical history, does a physical exam that includes listening to the lungs with a stethoscope, and may order tests such as a chest x-ray. In Spanish the term is neumonía.

Pneumonia in Spanish

Spanish term: Neumonía
Gender and article: feminine: la neumonía
Pronunciation: neh-oo-moh-NEE-ah

Other Spanish terms	Where it is used	Note
pulmonía	General	Listed by MedlinePlus en español as another name for its health topic Neumonía.
bronconeumonía	General	Listed among the alternative names in the MedlinePlus en español encyclopedia article on community-acquired pneumonia; the English health topic gives Bronchopneumonia under "Also called".

Neumonía is feminine: la neumonía. MedlinePlus en español uses it as the title of its health topic and lists pulmonía as another name; its encyclopedia lists bronconeumonía among the alternative names, as the English health topic does with bronchopneumonia. The adjective follows the noun: neumonía bacteriana, neumonía viral, neumonía fúngica.

The MedlinePlus en español encyclopedia calls pneumonia found in people who have not recently been in a hospital or other health care facility neumonía adquirida en la comunidad, abbreviated NAC (English: community-acquired pneumonia, CAP), and pneumonia in people who are in or were recently released from one neumonía intrahospitalaria. The air sacs are los alvéolos pulmonares. Symptom words include escalofríos (chills), flema (phlegm), dificultad para respirar (shortness of breath) and dolor en el pecho (chest pain). A chest x-ray is radiografía de tórax, and a sputum test is prueba de esputo.

Phrases for an appointment

What a patient or a clinician might say, in English and Spanish:

Who	English	Spanish
Patient	I have had a fever and a cough with phlegm for four days.	Llevo cuatro días con fiebre y tos con flema.
Clinician	Does your chest hurt when you breathe or cough?	¿Le duele el pecho cuando respira o tose?
Patient	Yes, and I get short of breath when I climb the stairs.	Sí, y me falta el aire cuando subo las escaleras.
Clinician	I am going to listen to your lungs. Please take a deep breath.	Voy a escucharle los pulmones. Por favor, respire profundo.
Clinician	I am going to order a chest x-ray to see if you have pneumonia.	Voy a pedirle una radiografía de tórax para ver si tiene neumonía.
Patient	I had pneumonia two years ago, and I was in the hospital for a week.	Tuve neumonía hace dos años, y estuve en el hospital una semana.
Patient	Is the pneumonia in one lung or in both?	¿La neumonía está en un pulmón o en los dos?
Clinician	If you have severe trouble breathing, call 911 or go to the emergency room right away.	Si tiene mucha dificultad para respirar, llame al 911 o vaya a la sala de emergencias de inmediato.

In 9 languages

Language	Term
English	Pneumonia
Spanish (Español)	Neumonía
Chinese (中文)	肺炎
Korean (한국어)	폐렴
Vietnamese (Tiếng Việt)	Viêm phổi
Filipino (Tagalog)	Pulmonya
Portuguese (Português)	Pneumonia
Thai (ภาษาไทย)	ปอดอักเสบ
Japanese (日本語)	肺炎

Where you'll see it

chartEOBmedical recordreferral

Related ICD-10-CM category

ICD-10-CM code: J18 → Pneumonia, unspecified organism

Related terms

Your right to an interpreter in the United States

If English is not your primary language and you have difficulty communicating in English, you may need an interpreter or a translated document when you visit a doctor or dentist, go to the emergency room or pick up a prescription. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights states that two federal laws, Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act, require programs that receive its funding to provide language access services free of charge.

You can ask when you make the appointment or at the front desk: "I need an interpreter, please." «Necesito un intérprete, por favor.»

More terms: Lungs and breathing

All terms in this area: Lungs and breathing — Pulmones y respiración

Sources

This page is a language reference. It is not medical advice.