Dictionary

teeth Plural of tooth.

tache noire French for “black spot,” to describe a small ulcer covered with a black crust at the site of a tick bite. A tache noire is characteristic of several tick-borne rickettsial diseases. See also rickettsial diseases.

tachy- Prefix meaning swift or rapid, as in tachycardia (rapid heart rate). From the Greek word tachys, meaning “swift.”

tachycardia A rapid heart rate, usually defined as greater than 100 beats per minute.

tachypnea Abnormally fast breathing.

tactile Having to do with touch. For example, tactile signs of disease are signs that are perceptible by touch, such as roughness of the skin.

taenia 1 In medicine, a genus of large tapeworms, some of which are parasitic in humans. 2 In anatomy, a band or a structural line; specifically, several bands and lines of nervous matter in the brain. Also spelled tenia.

Taenia saginata See beef tapeworm.

Taenia solium A tapeworm that can parasitize people and can be contracted from undercooked or infested pork. Also known as the armed tapeworm, the pork tapeworm, and the measly tapeworm.

tag, preauricular See ear tag.

tail 1 A slender appendage, such as the tail of the pancreas. 2 The appendage that protrudes from the backside of an animal. A person can appear to have a tail due to the presence of extra segments of the coccyx.

taint To poison, infect, or spoil.