What does intubating mean?
Intubating means inserting a tube into a body passage, most often the trachea, to keep the airway open and permit assisted breathing or medical treatment. The word is especially common in emergency medicine, anaesthesia, intensive care, and respiratory therapy. In everyday clinical language, a clinician might say they are intubating a patient when securing the airway with an endotracheal tube. The term is technical rather than literary, and it is related to intubation, the procedure itself, and intubator, a device used for insertion. Etymologically, the word comes from Latin roots meaning “into” and “tube,” so its basic sense has remained strikingly literal: putting a tube into something.
verbTo insert a tube into a body passage, especially the trachea, to keep the airway open or to administer treatment. In medicine, intubation usually refers to placing a tube through the mouth or nose into the trachea.
- To insert a tube into the trachea or another body passage, especially to maintain an open airway or support breathing.
"The medical team is intubating the patient before beginning ventilation."
"The paramedic is intubating the injured patient to secure the airway."
"The anesthesiologist had been intubating the patient when the monitors showed a sudden change."
Intubation keeps an airway open, but the word’s history is unexpectedly literal: it comes from Latin for putting something into a tube.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does intubating come from?
The verb derives from Latin intubare, meaning “to put into a tube.” Its elements combine the prefix in- or int-, “into,” with tuba, “tube” or “pipe.” English borrowed the word in the medical sense, and modern forms such as intubation and intubator developed from the same Latin root. The literal sense of inserting something into a tube underlies the modern medical meaning of placing a tube into the airway.
Related word forms
How intubating is actually used
The term is primarily medical and technical. It is usually used when someone is placing a breathing tube, especially through the mouth or nose and into the trachea.
Easily confused with intubating
Intubation is the procedure or act of inserting a tube, whereas intubating is the present participle of the verb meaning to perform that procedure.
Cannulation generally involves placing a small tube into a blood vessel or other passage, while intubation most commonly refers specifically to airway management.