GTT (drops)
GTT means drop or drops. It is short for the Latin gutta, a drop; gtts stands for guttae, drops.
How to read it
The Minnesota Board of Pharmacy lists gtt(s) as gutta(e), drop(s), and the American Heritage Dictionary gives gtt. as guttae. The spelling has varied: the historian Robert Woods, transcribing the 18th-century prescriptions of the Scottish man-midwife William Smellie, lists gut., gutt., Gt. and Gtt. for gutta, a drop, in the abbreviated Latin pharmacists used until the middle of the twentieth century. GTT is not on the Joint Commission’s “Do Not Use” list or ISMP’s list of error-prone abbreviations.
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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.
GTT on a lab form
The same letters stand for something else in a laboratory order: GTT is also the glucose tolerance test, as in a study from Washington University School of Medicine published in the Journal of Perinatology.
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Sources
- gtt. (American Heritage Dictionary entry), The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition, HarperCollins Publishers, gtt., abbr.
- Partial list of prescription abbreviations, Minnesota Board of Pharmacy, Partial list of prescription abbreviations, Minnesota Board of Pharmacy, gtt(s)
- Dr Smellie’s prescriptions for pregnant women, Robert Woods, Medical History 2008;52(2):257–276, Cambridge University Press, Symbols and conventions
- Early versus 6–12 week postpartum glucose tolerance testing for women with gestational diabetes, Journal of Perinatology 2018;38(2):118–121 (Washington University School of Medicine), Springer Nature, Abstract; Introduction
Last reviewed September 30, 2026 by Rory Hansen. How we research