emergency

See also: Emergency

English

Alternative forms

• emergence (archaic)

Etymology

Borrowed from Medieval Latin emergentia, from Latin emergens, present participle of emergo (“to emerge, arise, come forth”), equivalent to emergent +‎ -cy or emerge +‎ -ency. Doublet of emergence.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ɪˈmɜː(ɹ).dʒən.si/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ɪˈmɝ.d͡ʒən.si/, /iˈmɝ.d͡ʒən.si/, /əˈmɝ.d͡ʒən.si/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /əˈmɜː(ɹ).dʒən.si/
• Hyphenation: e‧mer‧gen‧cy
• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)dʒənsi

Noun

emergency (plural emergencies)

1. (sometimes attributive) A situation which poses an immediate risk and which requires urgent attention.

   Cardiac arrest is an emergency requiring medical attention.

   • 2021 December 29, Dominique Louis, “Causal analysis: crashworthiness at Sandilands”, in RAIL, number 947, page 33:

     We also found that the only emergency egress from the tram was by smashing the front or rear windscreens, and that emergency lighting had failed when the tram overturned.

2. The department of a hospital that treats emergencies.
   • 2009, “Restless Heart Syndrome”, in 21st Century Breakdown, performed by Green Day:

     I've got a really bad disease
     It's got me begging on my hands and knees
     So take me to emergency
     Cause something seems to be missing

3. A person brought in at short notice to replace a member of staff, a player in a sporting team, etc.
   • November 2 2014, Daniel Taylor, "Sergio Agüero strike wins derby for Manchester City against 10-man United," guardian.co.uk

     Van Gaal responded by replacing Adnan Januzaj with Carrick and, in fairness, the emergency centre-half did exceedingly well given that he has not played since May.

4. (archaic) The quality of being emergent; sudden or unexpected appearance; an unforeseen occurrence.
5. (euphemistic) A critical urge to urinate or defecate.

Synonyms

• (hospital department): ER, casualty, emerg

Derived terms

• accident and emergency
• climate emergency
• emergency brake
• emergency cord
• emergency department
• emergency dispatch center
• emergency entrance
• emergency escape
• emergency exit
• emergency goalie
• emergency hammer
• emergency landing
• emergency light
• emergency location transmitter
• emergency location transponder
• emergency locator transmitter
• emergency locator transponder
• emergency man
• emergency medical service
• emergency medical services
• Emergency Medical Technician
• emergency medical technician
• emergency medicine
• emergency orange
• emergency passport
• emergency physician
• emergency position indicating radio-beacon
• emergency position indicating radiobeacon
• emergency position indicating radio beacon
• emergency powers
• emergency response
• emergency room
• emergency service
• emergency services
• emergency stairs
• emergency stop
• emergency transponder
• emergency vehicle
• emergency ward
• it's an emergency
• national emergency
• nonemergency
• peemergency
• postemergency
• state of emergency
• The Emergency

Related terms

• emerge
• emergence

Translations

situation requiring urgent assistance

• Afrikaans: noodgeval sg
• Arabic: طَوَارِئ m pl (ṭawāriʔ), حَالَةْ اَلطَّوَارِئ f (ḥālat aṭ-ṭawāriʔ)
• Asturian: emerxencia f, urxencia f
• Basque: larrialdi sg, urgentzia sg
• Belarusian: надзвыча́йная сітуа́цыя f (nadzvyčájnaja situácyja)
• Bulgarian: спешен случай m (spešen slučaj)
• Burmese: အရေးပေါ် (my) (a.re:pau)
• Catalan: emergència (ca) f, urgència (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 緊急事故 / 紧急事故 (jǐnjí shìgù), 緊急情況 / 紧急情况 (jǐnjí qíngkuàng), 急診 / 急诊 (zh) (jízhěn) (medical)

• Czech: nouzová situace, nouze (cs)
• Danish: nødstilfælde n, nødsituation (da) c
• Dutch: nood (nl) m, noodgeval (nl) n, spoedgeval (nl) n
• Esperanto: krizo
• Finnish: hätä (fi), hätätilanne
• French: urgence (fr) f, crise (fr) f
• Galician: emerxencia f, urxencia (gl) f
• Georgian: საგანგებო მდგომარეობა (sagangebo mdgomareoba), საგანგებო სიტუაცია (sagangebo siṭuacia), კრიტიკული მდგომარეობა (ḳriṭiḳuli mdgomareoba), ექსტრემალური სიტუაცია (eksṭremaluri siṭuacia), უკიდურესი აუცილებლობა (uḳiduresi aucilebloba)
• German: Notfall (de) m, Notlage (de) f, Notstand (de) m
• Greek: έκτακτη ανάγκη f (éktakti anágki), επείγον περιστατικό n (epeígon peristatikó)
• Hebrew: מַצַּב חֵרוּם (he) (matzáv ḥerúm)
• Hindi: आपातकाल m (āpātkāl)
• Hungarian: vészhelyzet (hu), szükséghelyzet (hu), (as an adjective) vész- (hu), szükség- (hu), rendkívüli (hu)
• Icelandic: neyðarástand n
• Indonesian: darurat (id)
• Ingrian: hätä
• Italian: emergenza (it) f
• Japanese: 非常時 (ja) (ひじょうじ, hijōji), 緊急事態 (ja) (きんきゅうじたい, kinkyū-jitai)
• Kazakh: төтенше жағдай (tötenşe jağdai)
• Khmer: គ្រាអាសន្ន (kriə ʼaasɑn)
• Korean: 비상 사태(非常事態) (bisang satae)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: lezgîn (ku)

• Latin: subitum n
• Louisiana Creole French: urjen, sériyé
• Malay: kecemasan (ms)
• Malayalam: അടിയന്തരാവസ്ഥ (ml) (aṭiyantarāvastha), അടിയന്തരം (ml) (aṭiyantaraṁ)
• Maori: ohotata, whawhati tata
• Marathi: आणीबाणी f (āṇībāṇī)
• Nepali: आपातकाल (āpātkāl)
• Northern Sami: heahtedilli
• Persian: اضطراری (fa) (ezterâri), فوریت (fa) (foruriyat)
• Polish: nagły wypadek m, sytuacja nadzwyczajna f, sytuacja awaryjna f
• Portuguese: emergência (pt) f, urgência (pt) f
• Romanian: urgență (ro) f
• Russian: чрезвыча́йное положе́ние n (črezvyčájnoje položénije), э́кстренная ситуа́ция f (ékstrennaja situácija), чрезвыча́йное происше́ствие n (črezvyčájnoje proisšéstvije), ч. п. n (č. p.)
• Scottish Gaelic: èiginn f
• Slovak: núdzová situácia f
• Spanish: emergencia (es) f, urgencia (es) f
• Swahili: dharura (sw)
• Swedish: nödsituation (sv), nödläge (sv), nödfall (sv)
• Turkish: acil durum
• Ukrainian: надзвича́йна ситуа́ція (nadzvyčájna sytuácija), аварі́йна ситуа́ція (avaríjna sytuácija), е́кстрена ситуа́ція (ékstrena sytuácija)
• Vietnamese: trường hợp khẩn cấp
• Yiddish: נויטפֿאַל (noytfal)

emergency department — see also emergency room

• Afrikaans: noodgevalle pl
• Asturian: urxencias f
• Basque: larrialdiak pl, urgentziak pl
• Catalan: urgències (ca) f pl
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 急診室 / 急诊室 (zh) (jízhěnshì), 急症室 (zh) (jízhèngshì)

• Czech: pohotovost f
• Dutch: spoedgevallen (nl) n pl
• Finnish: ensiapupoliklinikka
• French: urgences (fr) f pl
• Georgian: სასწრაფო დახმარების განყოფილება (sasc̣rapo daxmarebis ganq̇opileba), გადაუდებელი დახმარების განყოფილება (gadaudebeli daxmarebis ganq̇opileba)
• German: Notdienst (de) m, Notaufnahme (de) f
• Greek: τμήμα επειγόντων περαστικών n (tmíma epeigónton perastikón), επείγοντα περαστικά n pl (epeígonta perastiká)
• Hindi: आपातकालीन कक्ष (āpātkālīn kakṣ)
• Hungarian: sürgősségi osztály, baleseti ambulancia, baleseti osztály, sürgősségi betegellátó osztály
• Kazakh: жедел жәрдем бөлмесі (jedel järdem bölmesı)
• Persian: اورژانس (fa) (uržâns)
• Portuguese: emergências f pl, urgências f pl, urgência (pt) f
• Romanian: urgență (ro) f
• Russian: реанима́ция (ru) f (reanimácija), отделе́ние неотло́жной по́мощи n (otdelénije neotlóžnoj pómošči), неотло́жка (ru) f (neotlóžka) (colloquial)
• Slovak: pohotovosť
• Spanish: urgencias (es) f pl, emergencias (es) f pl
• Swedish: akutmottagning (sv) c, akut (sv) c
• Ukrainian: реаніма́ція (uk) (reanimácija), відді́лення е́кстренної допомо́ги (viddílennja ékstrennoji dopomóhy), відді́лення невідкла́дної допомо́ги (viddílennja nevidkládnoji dopomóhy)

See also

• fire department
• police