aspirate

Aspirate is a verb with several related meanings centered on drawing substances or air through suction or breath. It commonly means to withdraw a liquid or gas from a body or cavity using a syringe, needle, or suction device. It can also mean to inhale or draw in breath, sometimes with unintended entry of material into the airway. The noun aspirate refers to the sample obtained by aspiration, or to an aspirated sound in phonetics.

In medical contexts, aspiration is a procedure used for diagnostic or therapeutic purposes. A clinician may aspirate fluid from a cyst or joint, or perform a fine-needle aspiration biopsy to collect cells. Aspiration also denotes the act of inhaling material into the lungs, which can cause complications such as aspiration pneumonia if not managed carefully.

In linguistics, an aspirate is a consonant produced with audible breath, often transcribed with a small h superscript or as [pʰ], [tʰ], or [kʰ]. In languages with aspirated stops, the presence or absence of aspiration contrasts with other consonants and affects pronunciation.

Aspirate-related terms include aspirator, the device used to create suction, and aspiration, the process or result of aspirating. The term is also used in cytology and pathology to refer to the collected material in procedures like fine-needle aspiration.