COVID-19 Vaccine vial and syringe - US Census

A vial (also known as a phial or

flacon A ''flacon'' (from Late Latin , meaning "bottle"; cf. "flagon") is a small, often decorative, bottle. It has an opening seal or stopper and is designed to hold valuable liquids which may deteriorate upon contact with the air. They are widespread ...

) is a small glass or plastic vessel or bottle, often used to store

medication Medication (also called medicament, medicine, pharmaceutical drug, medicinal product, medicinal drug or simply drug) is a drug used to medical diagnosis, diagnose, cure, treat, or preventive medicine, prevent disease. Drug therapy (pharmaco ...

in the form of liquids, powders, or capsules. They can also be used as scientific sample vessels; for instance, in autosampler devices in analytical

chromatography In chemical analysis, chromatography is a laboratory technique for the Separation process, separation of a mixture into its components. The mixture is dissolved in a fluid solvent (gas or liquid) called the ''mobile phase'', which carries it ...

. Vial-like glass containers date back to

classical antiquity Classical antiquity, also known as the classical era, classical period, classical age, or simply antiquity, is the period of cultural History of Europe, European history between the 8th century BC and the 5th century AD comprising the inter ...

; modern vials are often made of plastics such as

polypropylene Polypropylene (PP), also known as polypropene, is a thermoplastic polymer used in a wide variety of applications. It is produced via chain-growth polymerization from the monomer Propene, propylene. Polypropylene belongs to the group of polyolefin ...

. There are different types of vials such as a single dose vial and multi-dose vials often used for medications. The single dose vial is only used once whereas a multi-dose vial can be used more than once. The CDC sets specific guidelines on multi-dose vials.

History and etymology

A vial can be tubular, or have a bottle-like shape with a neck. The volume defined by the neck is known as the headspace. The English word "vial" is derived from the

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

''phiale'', meaning "a broad flat container". Comparable terms include the

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

''phiala'',

Late Latin Late Latin is the scholarly name for the form of Literary Latin of late antiquity.Roberts (1996), p. 537. English dictionary definitions of Late Latin date this period from the 3rd to 6th centuries CE, and continuing into the 7th century in ...

''fiola'' and

Middle English Middle English (abbreviated to ME) is a form of the English language that was spoken after the Norman Conquest of 1066, until the late 15th century. The English language underwent distinct variations and developments following the Old English pe ...

''fiole'' and ''viole''.

Modern vials

Modern vials are often made out of glass or plastic. They are often used as storage for small quantities of liquid used in medical or molecular biology applications. There are several different types of commonly used closure systems. For glass vials, options include screw vials (closed with a screw cap or dropper/

pipette A pipette (sometimes spelled as pipet) is a type of laboratory tool commonly used in chemistry and biology to transport a measured volume of liquid, often as a media dispenser. Pipettes come in several designs for various purposes with differing ...

), lip vials (closed with a cork or plastic stopper) and crimp vials (closed with a rubber stopper and a metal cap). Plastic vials, which can be moulded in plastic, can have other closure systems, such as 'hinge caps' which snap shut when pressed. These are sometimes called flip-tops or snap caps. The bottom of a vial is often flat, unlike

test tube A test tube, also known as a culture tube or sample tube, is a common piece of laboratory glassware consisting of a finger-like length of glass or clear plastic tubing, open at the top and closed at the bottom. Test tubes are usually placed in s ...

s, which have usually a rounded bottom, but this is often not the case for small hinge-cap or snap-top vials. The small bottle-shaped vials typically used in laboratories are also known as bijou or McCartney's bottles. The bijou bottle tends to be smaller, often with a volume of around 10

milliliter The litre (Commonwealth English, Commonwealth spelling) or liter (American English, American spelling) (SI symbols L and l, other symbol used: ℓ) is a metric units, metric unit of volume. It is equal to 1 cubic decimetre (dm3), 1000 cubic c ...

References

Bibliography

* {{laboratory equipment Containers Dosage forms Laboratory glassware

History and etymology

Modern vials

See also

References

Bibliography