trepan
pronunciation
How to pronounce trepan in British English:
UK [trɪˈpæn]
How to pronounce trepan in American English:
US [trɪ'pæn]
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- Noun:
- a surgical instrument used to remove sections of bone from the skull
- a drill for cutting circular holes around a center
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- Verb:
- cut a hole with a trepan, as in surgery
Word Origin
- trepan (v.)
- c. 1400, from Old French trépaner (14c.), from trepan (n.), the name of the tool with which it was done, from Medieval Latin trepanum "a saw for cutting out small pieces of bone from the skull," from Greek trypanon "a borer, an auger, a carpenter's tool; a surgeon's trepan," from trypan "to bore," related to trype "hole" (cognate with Old Church Slavonic truplu "hollow"), from PIE *trup-, from root *tere- (1) "to rub, turn" (see throw (v.)). Related: Trepanned; trepanning.