How to Pronounce Cholestasis

Cholestasis is pronounced koh-leh-STAY-sis. Say it like you're breaking it into four parts: "koh" (rhymes with "go"), "leh" (like the letter L), "STAY" (rhymes with "day"), and "sis" (like the end of "crisis"). The stress falls on the third syllable, STAY, which is the loudest part when you say the word.

Many people mistakenly stress the first syllable and say "KOHL-eh-stay-sis" instead of the correct "koh-leh-STAY-sis." Remember that the emphasis belongs on the third part of the word—the "STAY" part—not at the beginning.

Cholestasis breaks into four syllables: cho-les-ta-sis. If you say each syllable separately and then speed them up, you'll get the full word. The syllables are roughly equal in length, but remember that "STAY" (the third syllable) gets the stress.

Cholestasis comes from two Greek roots: "chole" which means bile (a digestive liquid made by the liver), and "stasis" which means a stopping or standing still. So the word literally means "bile standing still" or "bile buildup," which describes exactly what happens in this condition.

Cholestasis means a slowdown or blockage in the flow of bile from the liver. In everyday language, you might describe it as bile getting backed up or stuck in the liver instead of flowing normally.

Yes! The root "stasis" (meaning a stopping or backing up) appears in many medical terms. For example, hemostasis means stopping the flow of blood, and stasis dermatitis involves blood pooling in the legs. Learning the "stasis" root can help you understand these related words.

You might hear a doctor say: "The patient was diagnosed with cholestasis when tests showed bile was not flowing properly from the liver." Or: "Cholestasis can occur when gallstones block the bile ducts."

While cholestasis doesn't have a widely used single abbreviation, doctors may refer to it as intrahepatic cholestasis (bile backing up inside the liver) or extrahepatic cholestasis (blockage outside the liver) to describe where the problem is located.