First Aid & Small Injuries — A2 Essential Words

bruise /bruːz/ noun / verb A2 Health

Meaning: A dark colored mark on the skin (blue, purple, black) where something hit the body and blood collected under the skin; to cause this.

Example: A bruise appeared on his knee.

Another example: The peaches bruise easily.

Collocations: a bruise on · bruise easily · black and blue (idiom)

Synonyms: mark, contusion (medical)

Word family: bruises (n pl) · bruised (adj) · bruising (n)

⚠ Common mistake: Fruit shares its fate (bruised bananas sweeten baking). 'Black and blue' is the idiom for a body covered in them after fights.

🗣 In spoken American English: Egos bruise too — its emotional branch is universal.

Register: Neutral — health essential.

scar /skɑːr/ noun A2 Health

Meaning: A permanent mark left on the skin after a cut or injury has healed; also a lasting emotional effect of a bad experience.

Example: The scar on his hand came from a knife cut.

Another example: The war left deep scars.

Collocations: a scar on · scar tissue · leave a scar

Synonyms: mark, trace, reminder

Word family: scars (n pl) · scar (v) · scarred (adj)

⚠ Common mistake: Stories write characters by them (Harry Potter's is the most famous forehead in literature). 'Battle scars' turns them into honors in every trade.

🗣 In spoken American English: Its healing (scar tissue) is the body's patchwork.

Register: Neutral — health essential.

cast /kɑːst/ noun A2 Health

Meaning: A hard covering made of plaster that protects a broken bone while it heals; also the group of actors in a play or film, and to throw (old sense).

Example: Her broken arm is in a cast.

Another example: The cast signed autographs on it.

Collocations: in a cast · a plaster cast · the cast of (actors)

Synonyms: plaster, splint, the actors

Word family: casts (n pl) · cast (v)

⚠ Common mistake: Friends sign the medical kind like yearbooks. The actor kind comes from 'casting' roles like shapes into molds — both senses pour into forms.

🗣 In spoken American English: Its removal saw is louder than it is dangerous — patients fear it most.

Register: Neutral — health essential.

stitches /ˈstɪtʃɪz/ noun A2 Health

Meaning: Short pieces of thread sewn by a doctor to close a deep cut in the skin while it heals; also the loops of thread in sewing and knitting.

Example: The cut needed four stitches.

Another example: The stitches come out next week.

Collocations: need stitches · stitches in · the stitches come out

Synonyms: sutures (medical), sewing

Antonyms: scar (after)

Word family: stitch (n singular) · stitch (v)

⚠ Common mistake: Laughter borrows it: 'in stitches' means laughing helplessly, and a cramping side pain is 'a stitch'. Doctors count them like tiny fences mending skin.

🗣 In spoken American English: Removal day is every patient's small graduation.

Register: Neutral — health essential.

wound /wuːnd/ noun A2 Health

Meaning: A cut or injury to the body, especially from a weapon or accident, where the skin is broken; also a deep emotional hurt.

Example: The soldier's wound healed slowly.

Another example: Clean the wound first.

Collocations: a wound · wound care · the wound healed

Synonyms: injury, cut, gash

Word family: wounds (n pl) · wound (v) · wounded (adj)

⚠ Common mistake: Say WOOND (not wownd — that one is wind's past tense). 'Time heals all wounds' is its most prescribed proverb.

🗣 In spoken American English: Its pronunciation catches every learner once — the ou goes 'oo'.

Register: Formal — health essential.

plaster /ˈplɑːstər/ noun A2 Health

Meaning: In British use, a small sticky bandage for a cut (American: Band-Aid / adhesive bandage); also the soft white material that hardens for walls and casts.

Example: Put a plaster on the cut.

Another example: The walls are covered in plaster.

Collocations: a plaster on · plaster walls · plaster cast

Synonyms: bandage (US small sense: Band-Aid), sticking plaster, gypsum

Word family: plasters (n pl) · plaster (v) · plastered (adj)

⚠ Common mistake: Transatlantic trap! Ask for a plaster in the US and you may get wall material; ask for a Band-Aid in Britain and it's understood as the brand. Both mean the little sticky strip.

🗣 In spoken American English: Its wall sense built every old house's smooth rooms.

Register: Neutral (UK lean) — health staple with a US note.

ambulance /ˈæmbjələns/ noun A2 Health

Meaning: A special vehicle with medical equipment that takes sick or injured people to hospital quickly, with trained staff inside.

Example: Call an ambulance!

Another example: The ambulance arrived in five minutes.

Collocations: an ambulance · call an ambulance · by ambulance

Synonyms: emergency vehicle, medic van, rescue vehicle

Word family: ambulances (n pl)

⚠ Common mistake: Its name reads the same backwards in mirrors — written reversed on the hood so drivers ahead can read it. Sirens part traffic for it everywhere.

🗣 In spoken American English: 911 (US), 999 (UK), 112 (EU) are its summoning numbers.

Register: Neutral — health essential.

ointment /ˈɔɪntmənt/ noun A2 Health

Meaning: A smooth, oily substance rubbed on the skin to heal injuries, bites, rashes, or pain.

Example: Put ointment on the burn.

Another example: This ointment stops the itching.

Collocations: ointment on · apply ointment · an ointment for

Synonyms: cream, salve, balm

Word family: ointments (n pl)

⚠ Common mistake: 'A fly in the ointment' is the proverb for the one small thing spoiling everything — pharmacies meet literature.

🗣 In spoken American English: Its tubes live in every family's medicine cabinet corner.

Register: Formal — health staple.

stretcher /ˈstretʃər/ noun A2 Health

Meaning: A folding bed with handles and poles used to carry a person who is injured or too ill to walk.

Example: Medics carried him on a stretcher.

Another example: The stretcher rolled into the ER.

Collocations: on a stretcher · a stretcher · stretcher team

Synonyms: litter (military word), gurney (wheeled, hospital)

Word family: stretchers (n pl) · stretcher (v)

⚠ Common mistake: From the same 'stretch' family: a sheet stretched between poles. Stadium crowds applaud its passengers off the field — sports' kindest ritual.

🗣 In spoken American English: Its wheeled hospital cousin is the gurney.

Register: Formal — health essential.

syrup /ˈsɪrəp/ noun A2 Health

Meaning: A thick sweet liquid — cough syrup is medicine for coughs; maple syrup is poured on pancakes and waffles.

Example: Take two spoons of cough syrup.

Another example: Maple syrup on pancakes is a classic.

Collocations: cough syrup · maple syrup · syrup on

Synonyms: medicine liquid, sauce, molasses (darker)

Word family: syrups (n pl) · syrupy (adj)

⚠ Common mistake: One word serves pharmacies and pancake houses. Vermont and Canada guard its maple grade with laws and pride.

🗣 In spoken American English: Its cough version makes medicine taste like childhood cherries.

Register: Neutral — health staple.