This is an All Ears English podcast episode 2012, a shortcut to learn Dr. English vocabulary.
Welcome to the All Ears English podcast. downloaded more than 200 million times.
Are you feeling stuck with your English?
We'll show you how to become fearless and fluent by focusing on connection, not perfection.
With your American hosts Lindsay McMahon, the English adventurer, and Michelle Kaplan, the New York radio girl, coming to you from Colorado and New York City, USA.
And to get your transcripts delivered by email every week, go to allearsenglishcom.
Forward slash subscribe.
On today's episode we share a key suffix that is used when talking about doctors.
Learn the vocab for many different doctors and also a trick to make sure you have the correct pronunciation.
This Black Friday, stop piecing together random TikToks and YouTube videos that don't lead anywhere.
Join our 2026 English Mastery Bundle, a complete 9-12 month curriculum designed for goal-oriented learners like you.
You'll follow a clear, structured path from intermediate to high intermediate and even to advanced fluency, with every course flowing naturally into the next.
No gaps, no guesswork.
No searching for extra resources.
Plus, you'll get live speaking practice, community, and teacher support.
It's a done-for-you plan.
Everything you need in one place.
All unlocked with a single one-time investment.
This Black Friday only.
Build your English for the long term.
Start today.
Go to allersenglish.com slash Black Friday to save 50% off the normal price.
Expires at midnight on Friday. allersenglish.com slash B-L-A-C-K-F-R-I-D-A-Y.
Hello, Michelle.
How's everything today?
Everything is okay, Lindsay.
All right.
All right.
Everything's okay.
Good to hear.
Good to hear.
What are we getting into on Allers English today?
Well, today we're going to talk about the doctor, actually.
Have you been to any doctors recently?
Yes, for sure.
I was at the dermatologist recently and different doctors.
I was supposed to have a dentist appointment the other day, but I missed it.
So that's not good.
Yeah.
What about you?
Do you go to the doctors a lot?
Yes, I do.
I do go to the doctors a lot.
But yeah, recently I had a physical.
That's always important to do.
Make sure everything is in check.
But yeah, guys, today we are going to be talking about doctors and names for doctors.
Gosh, this episode could be really, really long, but I chose...
A few.
Yeah.
I mean, there are so many special specialties, specializations, right?
Um, I personally love the show, the good doctor.
I like to watch that.
It's really, it's really a cool show about a, a doctor who has autism and he, but he's a surgeon.
He's an amazingly talented surgeon and he practices in Silicon Valley area.
You should check it out, Michelle. if you haven't seen the show.
Yeah, I haven't ever seen it, but I have heard good things.
So, okay, good to know.
So, Lindsay, what is another episode we've done about the doctors?
Okay, episode 1795 is called An Apple a Day, English Idioms Using Doctor.
We do insert the term doctor or the medical world into our language.
A lot to connect Michelle, don't we?
Yes, and it's important to know the words for specific kinds of doctors, right?
Because...
You never know, right?
We wish everybody good health, but you got to check in, right?
So today we are going to focus on a specific suffix um, used frequently with doctors, so you can get used to pronunciation and use um.
Do you ever not know what a specific doctor is like?
If somebody throws out a different word for a doctor sorry, um.
Do you ever you're like what kind of doctor is that?
I feel like some of them i don't know.
Yeah, i mean, it can be really interesting to learn them and you feel really smart when you know them.
Yes, it's true.
It's true.
It's true.
Like even within dental work, because I was having this conversation with my dad.
There's the dentist.
And then there's also the periodontist who works on your gums.
And then there's also like if you're getting crowns or fake teeth, there's a prop prosthetist, I think, or something like that.
Prosthodontist, right?
Orthodontist, if you're a kid and you're getting braces, like all these things.
It's crazy, Michelle.
It's crazy.
Yeah.
So definitely.
And Lindsay, do we want to remind our listeners of anything?
I think we do, especially the fact that guys, this show is on YouTube.
We have a whole channel called All Ears English, and this episode will be on there.
So, if you prefer to consume this podcast on YouTube, seeing our faces, seeing our expressions, we both have very expressive faces.
So you can check out our channel.
Yeah.
Yes, please do.
So let's get into it.
I mean, Lindsay, do you have a favorite doctor?
Like, is there a doctor that you really connect with?
I'm just thinking about what kind of doctor is it?
Because most of the time, like when you're going to a doctor, it's kind of annoying or something that you don't.
Maybe maybe someone more along the lines of an optometrist or an ophthalmologist, because you know, like there's not a whole thing where they have to take your blood pressure and your weight and all those things are just annoying, you know.
Yeah, I have a favorite doctor.
What is it?
Well, I loved my OBs, which is the ones that deal with your pregnancy, that deliver your baby.
Like, I love them.
They were so great.
That's great.
But my favorite doctor favorite doctor of all time is my cardiologist.
I have just like a very minor heart condition that I got checked out.
I mean, knock on wood, minor, but like, it's just like I go once a year usually.
And this doctor.
I found him in the city and And he has the best bedside manner of any doctor I've ever met in my entire life.
And I have had some doctors who are the exact opposite.
I have one right now who I am not so pleased with.
Anyway, so but this one, he's just amazing.
This bedside manner is so important.
I mean, what do you think makes a good doctor, Lindsay?
Well, yeah, I think these days doctors, oh, it's a hard conversation, right?
Doctors, they do need the soft skills, right?
Right?
To talk.
I mean, I was just having a lot of conversations on the phone with my aunt's doctor.
And I liked her a lot.
Like, I liked that she told me when she was going to call again.
You know, I'm going to call you tomorrow, call you tomorrow with an update.
That's important.
You know, those skills matter.
So soft skills and hard skills.
What was your question again?
What do you think makes a good doctor?
Oh, soft skills and hard skills.
But it's a lot to ask, right?
Because you know, if you think about it, there are other professions where that don't deal with people as much.
Like, if you're an advanced coder or software engineer, you don't necessarily have to have those soft skills, although you usually should.
But the thing with doctors is that it's human facing all the time.
So must be hard, don't you think?
Yeah, it's probably pretty exhausting.
And also the healthcare system, they sometimes have to go too quickly through patients.
So sometimes maybe they want to, you know, have a better bedside manner or have more relationships with their patients, but it just the system doesn't really allow for it.
So it's tough, you know, we have to understand both perspectives, but I do love my cardiologist.
So anyway, so let's go through some vocabulary.
So this suffix.
I mean we've.
We were talking a little bit about dentist, optometrist Trist and things like that.
But today we're going to focus on ones with that O G I S T. Okay.
So, and this is the key piece today for the episode guys, this is what you're going to come away with is understanding in English.
When we're talking about any kind of specialist, it's always going to be O G or G I S T right.
Michelle, most of the time, not all the time, but a lot, this is a very common one.
Like, you know, like, um, Yeah, like orthodontist, you know, that's T-I-S-T.
So, you know, there are certain specialties that don't follow this.
But we're just going to focus on the ones that do today.
So I thought that could be a common theme.
So the first one is cardiologist.
Hey, my cardiologist, love you.
So that is the heart doctor, right?
Cardio, right?
Think of cardio exercise.
And then you can remember that that's a cardiologist, a dark doctor of the heart heart yeah, so important to keep ourselves moving, keep our cardio in shape.
That's always interesting to see where.
What other words guys can we expand out to?
And, by the way, i'm sure that that we have listeners who are these exact professionals in all of these disciplines.
I know we have a cardiologist, more than one, many cardiologists in our listener base dermatologists urologists, gyneco we have them, we have them all.
And so we're talking to you guys And for our listeners who may have just moved to the States or the UK and you need to book these doctor appointments, right.
Yes, this is important.
So you said it, you mentioned that you recently went to this doctor.
What is it?
Dermatologist.
And the reason I went is that in Colorado the skin cancer rates are very high because the sun is so strong and we're so close to the sun.
Here, we're at 5,000 feet. right?
We're a mile high.
So now that I'm getting a little older, I have to go get a skin check every year.
So exciting, Michelle.
These good fun things we get to do when we get older.
I've been meaning to go to the dermatologist for a very long time.
Yeah.
But yeah, I need to get one of those checks too.
But yeah, dermatologist guys, because derma is like skin, right?
So it's like a doctor of the skin, exactly.
And then the next one is urologist right, this doctor deals with the bladder issues, urinary issues, other things, urologist urine yeah, i guess that's where i'm from.
And then gynecologist yes uh, with the reproductive organs.
Uh female, female reproductive organs.
Um, so this uh, this one is like sometimes people call them like the gyno right, they'll abbreviate it.
Yeah, it's kind of funny if you think about why do native speakers only abbreviate that one?
Why don't we like abbreviate the derma?
Did you go to the derma or the cardiologist?
I mean, you don't say this cardio.
Yeah, you don't like that.
I'm trying to think if there's another one where you do that.
But yeah, so the guy, you know, right.
Do you ever say that?
Yeah, sure.
Of course.
Yeah.
But I never abbreviate any others.
Maybe it's because people feel awkward talking about that topic.
I bet that's why.
Yeah, probably.
That's probably true.
And another one with that same suffix.
And here we go.
Another one is ophthalmologist.
So what is this, Lindsay?
So this is a doctor of the eyes, but there are two kinds of doctors of the eyes.
So there's an ophthalmologist.
And I think an ophthalmologist usually does more heavy surgeries and that kind of thing.
And there's also an optometrist is.
My dad was actually an optometrist where he kind of did the initial screenings, the family medicine, the yearly checkups and then most surgeries.
He would refer someone to an ophthalmologist in the hospital.
If he had to operate.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Okay.
Yeah.
And then, then there's the last one we'll do is neurologist.
So this is of the nervous system. right?
Yes.
Also, you know, nowadays we're coming into a whole generation that's having, you know, dementia issues.
So that is who a person would go to, to be screened for dementia would be a neurologist.
Okay.
So those guys and girls are going to be very busy in the next 10 or 15 years sadly, in the States and the world.
Honestly Michelle, I think we're about to come into a huge epidemic of dementia.
Yeah.
It's happening.
Good times.
Good times.
That's the good news today.
Yeah.
Now that everyone's depressed.
Yeah, right, right.
So, guys, let's talk about – I mean, there are so many more.
We couldn't do all of them today.
But guys, to focus on that pronunciation, it's the – that gets the stress right cardiologist dermatologist urologist gynecologist ophthalmologist, neurologist.
Love it.
So useful that you point that out Michelle, because I think for our listeners guys, it's also listening.
Right, it's listening.
It's hearing that word when your general practitioner is telling you you need to see this kind of doctor, you want to make sure you understand what they're saying, right?
So yeah right, that's right, you want to know, and so just knowing that word stress, that'll help you.
That pattern ah oh, i love it.
That's so useful.
Okay, very cool okay michelle yeah, so let's go ahead and do some practice, shall we all right?
Yes, all right, let's do a role play.
All right, i think i need new glasses.
I'm gonna make an appointment with my ophthalmologist okay uh, you know what?
This is not a role play.
This is just some examples i just realized.
Okay, then the role play comes later.
All right, all right.
The next.
The next one is my friend has a rash on her hand, so i'm going to drive her to the dermatologist.
That would be a strange conversation already exactly, we're just saying our issues at each other.
We're kind of speaking at each other rather than to each other here.
Oh, my gosh, um.
And the next one she went to the neurologist and everything was fine, All right.
It takes months to get an appointment with that gynecologist, so call early.
Uh-huh.
Or she went to a urologist, again, ologist, and he gave her some meds.
She feels better now.
A cardiologist came to give a lecture on heart health.
Nice.
Yeah.
Okay.
Any tips to remember each one, Michelle?
I mean, it comes back to the body, right?
Thinking about core roots of the words.
Yes.
Yes, yes, exactly.
Derma, skin, neuro, like nervous system, urologist, urinary.
Cardio.
Cardio, right?
Cardiology, cardio.
Yeah, exactly.
I mean, you really can just put it together.
Now that you guys know the ologist or augist or gist, you'll get it.
You got it.
So good.
What's next, Michelle?
Role play?
All right, let's do it.
Now comes the role play.
Here we are friends and we're talking about our doctors.
All right.
Can you make it at 11?
No, sorry.
I have a gynecologist appointment.
What about one?
Oh no, I have a neurologist appointment.
So many doctors.
That's okay.
We will do another day.
Just not Thursday because my husband has a urologist appointment that I had to drive him to.
Do you ever find a new ophthalmologist?
Nah, but I'm going to ask around.
My cardiologist always has good recommendations.
That's good.
Okay.
Got to head to the dermatologist.
See you later. oh gosh michelle is this what things are going to look like in 20 years we'll have conversations like these probably that's what happens right so oh man i love it so we'll just we'll go through these real quick right so you said no sorry i have a gynecologist appointment right so reproductive issues only women go to the gynecologist right it's there's no yeah it's just mostly for women Yeah.
And then I have a neurologist appointment.
And then I said, you said, just not Thursday because my husband has a urologist appointment.
Right.
Yes.
And then I said, did you ever find a new ophthalmologist?
And then I said, nah, I'm going to ask around.
My cardiologist always has good recommendations.
And then I said, that's good.
Gotta head to the dermatologist.
See you later.
You know, I think we've done some episodes in the past.
I don't think we had them highlighted here, but I think we have talked.
I don't know which episodes, but guys come back to allersenglishcom and type in you know American medical system, because we do, we.
You know there is a lot to say Michelle, about our medical system.
You know about how things run and And kind of the challenges that we have right now as a society.
Episode 1359, health in America, drug prices, insurance companies and demonizing wealth is one.
There's a lot of good stuff to dig into our content, guys, to learn more.
So interesting.
Yeah, it's a huge, huge, huge, huge topic.
So definitely listen.
Really interesting.
What's the takeaway, Michelle?
Okay, guys.
Well, today we wanted to focus on some of the main doctors that are specialists, and we talked about the specific suffix.
So this was not only a vocabulary episode but also just kind of dissecting the words a little bit and the suffixes that go along with them, as well as the pronunciation.
So we taught you a key pattern so that you know how to pronounce these words.
Yep.
It's all about the patterns, guys, right?
That's how we can learn 30 words while learning one, right?
Exactly.
This is how we learn in a smart way.
We look for patterns.
Right.
This is an efficient way to learn.
So this was fun, Lindsay, and I hope you don't have to go to any more doctors.
Same to you, Michelle.
Same to you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
So I hope you have a great day and guys wishing you lots of good health.
Sounds good, Michelle.
Talk to you soon.
Bye.
And if you believe in connection, not perfection, then hit subscribe now to make sure you don't miss anything.
See you next time.
