An exploration of culturally exclusive and outdated medical terminology: Are they suitable for students from non-English backgrounds?

Introduction: English is the main medium of medical education in many institutions worldwide. However, several terms in the medical lexicon carry colonial, cultural, or linguistic origins that may be outdated or confusing for students from non-English-speaking backgrounds. This study explores culturally exclusive and outdated metaphorical terms in medicine and debates their continued usage. Methods: A two-stage protocol was followed. First, textbooks and teaching material from the pre-clinical phase of the medical curriculum at the authors’ institution were screened for metaphorical medical terms with outdated concepts or Anglo-European cultural elements. Next, the definitions and origins of each term were explored using open-source etymological resources and peer-reviewed literature from PubMed and Google Scholar. Terms were then thematically grouped and narratively analysed. Results: Twenty Anglo-European references were identified and categorised into sub-themes: Western food (e.g., “port-wine stain,” “maple syrup urine disease”), fiction (e.g., “Alice-in-Wonderland syndrome”), religion (e.g., “Hand of Benediction”), and foreign languages (e.g., “café-au-lait spots,” “tache noire”). These may be unrelatable to students from diverse cultural or religious backgrounds. In addition, ten obsolete societal references were noted (e.g., “Washerwoman’s hands,” “rugger jersey spine,” “Indian file pattern”), which are no longer part of common knowledge. Conclusion: While such terms aided understanding for Anglo-European learners, they may now burden today’s diverse student population. Medical educators should reassess their continued use to ensure clarity and equity in global medical education. This review, based on single institutional findings, provides a foundation for broader, multi-institutional studies to explore the prevalence and impact of these terms across curricula.