EtOH (alcohol)
EtOH means alcohol. It is a chemical name for ethanol (ethyl alcohol), and medical records use it for alcohol in general.
How to read it
It is written EtOH, ETOH or etoh. NIST’s Chemistry WebBook lists EtOH among the other names for ethanol, beside ethyl alcohol and grain alcohol. The abbreviation lists that hospitals and ambulance services keep expand it in slightly different words for the same thing: “alcohol” in Duke Health’s guide for patients, Charleston Area Medical Center’s list for medical records and California Correctional Health Care Services’ list; “ethanol or alcohol” in North Carolina’s approved list for EMS; and “ethyl alcohol” in the Central California EMS Agency’s list.
Also searched as: ethanol abbreviation, etoh meaning, etoh medical abbreviation.
These pages explain what medical abbreviations and symbols stand for. They are not medical advice and give no doses: a pharmacist or prescriber can explain what any label means for you.
Where you’ll see it
Duke Health puts ETOH on its list of abbreviations patients are likely to meet when they read their own notes in MyChart. It is also on the lists ambulance crews in North Carolina and central California use for their patient care reports, and on the list the North American Association of Central Cancer Registries recommends to the people who abstract cancer records.
More medical chart abbreviations
Browse symbols drawn with letters and numbers or squares and rectangles.
Sources
- Ethanol (NIST Chemistry WebBook, SRD 69), National Institute of Standards and Technology, Other names
- Common Medical Abbreviations you may encounter when reading your notes in MyChart, Duke Health (Duke MyChart), List, E
- Abbreviations Approved for Medical Records, Charleston Area Medical Center, E
- Approved Medical Abbreviations, Appendix G, revised 15 October 2023, North Carolina College of Emergency Physicians, via the North Carolina Office of EMS, E
- Accepted Abbreviations List, CCEMSA policies and procedures, general, Central California EMS Agency (Fresno County Department of Public Health), Purpose; E
- Approved Abbreviations, Clinical 2022, Health Care Department Operations Manual, California Correctional Health Care Services, E
- NAACCR Recommended Abbreviation Listings, NAACCR UDS/Registry Operations Text Work Group, North American Association of Central Cancer Registries (copy hosted by the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services), Introduction; abbreviations by term
Last reviewed September 30, 2026 by Rory Hansen. How we research