sputum

That’s sputum, the mucus found deep in the airways.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 5, 2026

"It's meant to break up sputum, but kids under two can't spit it out, so the mucus can be aspirated into the lungs, causing pneumonia - yet it is still prescribed."

From BBC ● Oct. 7, 2025

In this study, experts engineered a living material resembling natural sputum, or phlegm, from CF patients that can grow 3D polymicrobial biofilms in a controlled manner, resembling those found in the CF lung.

From Science Daily ● Nov. 21, 2023

She said she was concerned because Tammy Daybell was just 49 and also had quite a bit of foamy pink sputum coming from her mouth.

From Seattle Times ● Apr. 28, 2023

The back of the throat and the lining of the windpipe may also slough off, and the dead tissue slides down the windpipe into the lungs or is coughed up with sputum.

From "The Hot Zone" by Richard Preston

I know that sputa is spittle: but what is tilica?

From A Dialogue Concerning Oratory, Or The Causes Of Corrupt Eloquence The Works Of Cornelius Tacitus, Volume 8 (of 8); With An Essay On His Life And Genius, Notes, Supplements by Cornelius Tacitus

An early case of tuberculosis, without Koch's bacillus in the sputa, was cured.

From Turkish Prisoners in Egypt A Report by the Delegates of the International Committee of the Red Cross by International Committee of the Red Cross

I gave over the case at this time, and some weeks afterwards I learnt with surprise that the patient was well and growing fat, and that the inoculation of the sputa had produced no effects.

From New, Old, and Forgotten Remedies: Papers by Many Writers by Edward Pollock Anshutz

If we analyze the sputa we find fibrin and even lung muscle.

From Philosophy of Osteopathy by A. T. (Andrew Taylor) Still

They bear some resemblance to Leptothrix buccalis, the spores of which are often found in whooping-cough sputa.

From A System of Practical Medicine by American Authors, Vol. I Volume 1: Pathology and General Diseases by Various