Wt
Abbreviation with 2 meanings
| Stands for | Weight |
|---|---|
| Meanings | 2 |
| Categories | Medical, Science & Engineering |
| Also written | WT |
Wt has two meanings. It stands for Weight (patient assessment) or Wild type (biology).
Meanings of Wt at a glance
| # | Wt stands for | Context |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Weight | Medical › Patient Assessment |
| 2 | Wild type | Science & Engineering › Biology |
1. Weight
Medical · Patient Assessment Abbreviations
Body weight recorded in kilograms or pounds, used for drug dosing, nutrition and fluid status. Hospital policies increasingly require weights in kilograms to prevent dosing errors.
Example: Daily Wt 84.2 kg, up 1.6 kg from yesterday; diuretic dose reviewed.
Pound-for-kilogram mix-ups have caused serious pediatric overdoses, which is why many systems accept only metric entry. Heart failure patients are taught to report a gain of more than about 2 to 3 pounds in a day or 5 pounds in a week. Daily weights should be taken at the same time on the same scale.
2. Wild type (WT)
Science & Engineering · Biology Abbreviations
The typical, unmutated form of a gene, organism or strain as it occurs in nature or in a standard reference stock, used as the baseline for comparing mutants. Results sections compare "WT and knockout mice" or "WT and mutant protein."
Example: The mutant flies lived 20% longer than WT controls under the same diet.
The term arose in early Drosophila genetics to describe the eye color and wing shape of flies caught in the wild. In laboratories "wild type" often means the standard lab strain, such as C57BL/6 mice, which may differ considerably from truly wild animals.
Related abbreviations
More patient assessment abbreviations
- AP – Apical pulse
- AVPU – Alert, voice, pain, unresponsive
- Ax – Axillary
- BLE – Bilateral lower extremities
- BMI – Body mass index
- BP – Blood pressure
- BPS – Behavioral Pain Scale
- BS – Bowel sounds
See all 65 patient assessment abbreviations →
More biology abbreviations
- AA – Amino acid
- ADP – Adenosine diphosphate
- AMP – Adenosine monophosphate
- ATP – Adenosine triphosphate
- BMR – Basal metabolic rate
- BSA – Bovine serum albumin
- BSL – Biosafety level
- CAM – Crassulacean acid metabolism
See all 75 biology abbreviations →
This entry is for general education and is not medical advice. Abbreviation use varies between institutions; always confirm in context.