leitos

Leito (plural leitos) is a Portuguese noun with several related meanings. The most common sense is a bed used for sleeping. In hospital contexts, leito refers specifically to a hospital bed and, by extension, to bed capacity within a facility. The term often appears in health-system discussions about capacity and planning, with distinctions such as leitos clínicos (ward beds) and leitos de UTI (intensive care unit beds). The occupancy rate of beds, or taxa de ocupação de leitos, and the number of leitos disponíveis are regular metrics in hospital administration and public health reporting.

In geography and hydrology, leito denotes the bed or channel of a river or stream, i.e., the riverbed. This sense refers to the natural bed over which water flows and can include the physical space that shapes sediment transport, flood dynamics, and river morphology. The leito can shift over time due to erosion, deposition, and human alterations to the landscape, and it is a key concept in maps, environmental studies, and water-management planning.

Etymology traces leito to Latin lectus (bed), with the meaning expanding over time from the sleeping surface to include the bed of a hospital and the bed of a river. The word is used in both Brazilian and European Portuguese, though context is essential to determine the intended sense. In everyday language, the surrounding words usually clarify whether leito means a sleeping place, a hospital bed, or a riverbed.