inpatient

• Audio (US):

  (file)

From in- (“internal”) +‎ patient.^[1]

• in-patient

inpatient (plural inpatients)

1. (healthcare) A patient whose treatment requires at least one night's residence in a hospital; a hospitalized patient.

   Antonym: outpatient

   • 1998, Maria Owings, Lola Jean Kozak, Ambulatory and Inpatient Procedures in the United States, 1996, Issue 139‎^[1]:

     For three of the four regions, the number and rate of procedures was higher in inpatient than in ambulatory settings, but in the Midwest the differences between settings were not statistically significant.

inpatient (not comparable)

1. Of treatment, requiring at least one night's residence in a hospital.

• inpatient, in-patient at the Google Books Ngram Viewer.

By surface analysis, in- (“not”) +‎ patient.

inpatient

1. Alternative spelling of impatient.
   • 1668, Margaret Cavendish, The Blazing World‎^[2]:

     ...she told her, That she had an extreme desire to converse with the soul of her Noble Lord and dear Husband, and that she was inpatient of a longer stay.