Word.ws English Dictionary

trepanation

Syllables: trep·a·na·tion/tɹɛpəˈneɪʃən/

trepanation noun: the practice of drilling a hole in the skull as a physical, mental, or spiritual treatment.

trepanation: the practice of drilling a hole in the skull as a physical, mental, or spiritual treatment
Image: Rama, CC BY-SA 3.0 fr, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

trepanation (countable and uncountable, plural trepanations)

  1. The practice of drilling a hole in the skull as a physical, mental, or spiritual treatment.
    • Creed had suffered […] a swelling to the brain that the tribe’s chief physic treated with trepanation.2022, Paul McAuley, Beyond the Burn Line, Gollancz, page 75
    • According to the doctors, Lula, 79, underwent a trepanation: having a 3cm hole made in the skull to insert a drain to remove the bleeding.2024 December 10, Tom Phillips, Tiago Rogero, “Brazilian president in intensive care after emergency brain surgery”, in The Guardian, →ISSN

trepanation meaning in Arabic

trepanation in Arabic

practice of drilling a hole in the skull
نَقَب الجَمْجَمَة naqab al-jamjama

Synonyms of trepanation

Forms of trepanation

pluraltrepanations

Origin of trepanation

From New Latin trepanatio, formed from French trépan (“a drill”), itself from Latin trepanum, ultimately from Ancient Greek τρύπανον (trúpanon, “an auger, a drill”).

Words formed from trepanation

Questions about trepanation

What does trepanation mean?
Trepanation means the practice of drilling a hole in the skull as a physical, mental, or spiritual treatment.
What is trepanation in Arabic?
Trepanation in Arabic is نَقَب الجَمْجَمَة (naqab al-jamjama). See Trepanation meaning in Arabic.
What part of speech is trepanation?
Trepanation is a noun.
How do you pronounce trepanation?
Trepanation is pronounced /tɹɛpəˈneɪʃən/.
What is the plural of trepanation?
The plural of trepanation is trepanations.

Words near trepanation in the dictionary

  1. treosulfan
  2. Treowen
  3. trepak
  4. trepaks
  5. trepan
  6. trepanation
  7. trepanations
  8. trepaned
  9. trepang
  10. trepanger
  11. trepangers

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: trepanation (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Naomi Persephone Amethyst (NaomiAmethyst)-trepanation.wav, LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-trepanation.wav.

Cite this entry: “trepanation.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/trepanation. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.