A medical instrument with earpieces and tubing that doctors use to listen to sounds inside your body, like your heartbeat and breathing.
From Greek 'stethos' (chest) and 'skopein' (to look or examine). Created in the early 1800s by French physician René Laennec as an improvement over placing an ear directly on a patient's chest.
Laennec invented the stethoscope partly because he was embarrassed to press his ear against a female patient's chest—an awkward moment that revolutionized medicine! The name literally means 'chest viewer,' though it's really for listening, not looking.
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