mammogram

noun

mam·​mo·​gram ˈma-mə-ˌgram 

: a photograph of the breasts made by X-rays

also : the procedure for producing a mammogram

Examples of mammogram in a Sentence

She went to the hospital for her yearly mammogram.

Recent Examples on the Web

Clinics around the United States are starting to offer patients a new service: having their mammograms read not just by a radiologist, but also by an A.I. model. —Nina Agrawal, New York Times, 16 Jan. 2025

Ultrasound screenings identify cancers that can be missed in mammograms, radiologists say. —Gretchen Morgenson, NBC News, 27 Dec. 2024

This first comes up when Kyle and Kathy go to get mammograms in their mother’s honor and find out (phew) that nothing is wrong with either of them. —Brian Moylan, Vulture, 4 Mar. 2025

Women in the study were either assigned to receive surgery and radiation or to receive more frequent mammograms and monitoring. —Alice Park, TIME, 12 Dec. 2024

Word History

Etymology

Latin mamma "breast" + -o- + -gram — more at mamma entry 1

Note: The terms mammogram and mammography were introduced by the American physician and surgeon Nymphus Frederick Hicken (1900-98) in "Mammography: roentgenologic diagnosis of breast tumors by means of contrast media," Surgery, Gynecology and Obstetrics, vol. 64 (1937), pp. 593-603.

First Known Use

1937, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for mammogram

• abraham
• anagram
• cablegram
• cofferdam
• dendrogram
• diagram
• diaphragm
• epigram
• hexagram
• histogram
• hologram
• instagram

Medical Definition

mammogram

noun

mam·​mo·​gram ˈmam-ə-ˌgram 

1

: a photograph of the breasts made by X-rays

2

: the procedure for producing a mammogram