“Aspirate” has a few related meanings, but they all involve drawing in air or fluid or using extra breath.

Core meanings

  • In medicine, “to aspirate” often means:
    • To accidentally breathe food, liquid, or vomit into the lungs, which can lead to aspiration pneumonia.
    • To remove fluid, air, or tissue from the body using suction, usually with a needle (for example, aspirating fluid from a cyst).
  • In everyday medical talk about injections, “aspirate” can also mean pulling back on the syringe plunger slightly to check that the needle is not in a blood vessel.

Because medical aspiration can cause pneumonia or serious lung problems if food or liquid gets into the airways instead of the stomach, it is treated as a significant safety concern in healthcare, especially for infants, older adults, and people who have trouble swallowing.