before a vowel steth-, combining form repr. Gr. στῆθος breast, chest, occurring in medical terms. Stetho-cardiograph, an instrument for automatically recording at once the movements of the lungs and of the heart (cf. STETHOGRAPH, CARDIOGRAPH). Stethendoscope [Gr. ἔνδον within + -SCOPE], an instrument for examining the inside of the chest by means of Röntgen rays. Stethogoniometer [Gr. γωνία angle + -METER], an instrument for measuring the angles and determining the configuration of the chest. (See also following words.)
1876. A. Ransome, Stethometry, iii. 35. Dr. Burdon Sanderson’s *stetho-cardiograph is essentially a pair of callipers provided with similar drums.
1899. Lancet, 12 Aug., 438/2. Dr. Walsham … showed his *stethendoscope for the examination of the chest.
1858. S. S. Alison, Phys. Exam. Chest (1861), 367. The *stetho-goniometer … is intended to measure the angles at which the planes of different parts of the thorax are inclined to each other.
