ENGLISH
REFERENCE

caesar

n. countable
C1 Advanced US //ˈsizɝ// UK //sˈiːzɐ// cae·sar Informal

n. a medical operation where a baby is born through a cut in the mother's stomach instead of a natural birth.

n. a surgical procedure for delivering a baby through an incision in the mother's abdomen and uterus. Often used as a shortened, informal reference to a Caesarean section.


SIMPLE

The doctor decided a Caesar was the safest option for the baby.

CONTEXTUAL

After twenty hours of difficult labor, the medical team recommended an emergency Caesar to avoid further complications.

COMPLEX

While a Caesar is a routine major surgery, the recovery period is significantly longer than that of a vaginal delivery, requiring careful post-operative monitoring for infection.

Origin

From Latin Caesar. Displaced Old English cāsere, which would have yielded caser, coser, and Middle English keiser, kaiser, from Old Norse and continental Germanic languages. All ultimately from the same Latin root. (See also Kaiser and tsar.)

Usage

Commonly used in informal medical contexts or casual conversation as a shorthand for 'Caesarean section'.

Pitfall

She had a Caesar birth.She had a Caesar.When using the informal 'Caesar', it functions as the noun for the procedure itself; 'Caesarean' is the adjective used to modify 'birth' or 'section'.

Idioms1 entry

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