12-letter words that end in a
- barium enema — an injection into the rectum of a preparation of barium sulphate, which is opaque to X-rays, before X-raying the lower alimentary canal
- barranquilla — a port in N Colombia, on the Magdalena River. Pop: 1 918 000 (2005 est)
- bathmophobia — The fear of stairs and slopes.
- beam antenna — an antenna that transmits its radiation in a particular direction.
- beaufort sea — part of the Arctic Ocean off the N coast of North America
- bella figura — a good impression; fine appearance
- bhakti-marga — any of the three ways to salvation, which are those of devotion to certain gods (bhakti-marga) of study (jnana-marga) and of actions (karma-marga)
- bhutatathata — Tathata.
- bibliophobia — an aversion to books
- birth trauma — an emotional shock caused by being born.
- bismarck sea — an arm of the Pacific Ocean north of New Britain and north-east of New Guinea
- biting mania — an epidemic in which people have a compulsion to bite others, as in 15th-century Germany, Italy, and the Netherlands.
- black acacia — a tall Australian tree, Acacia melanoxylon, of the legume family, having cream-yellow flowers and yielding a very light wood.
- black africa — Black Africa is the part of Africa to the south of the Sahara Desert.
- blennorrhoea — an excessive discharge of watery mucus, esp from the urethra or the vagina
- blood plasma — the pale yellow fluid portion of the blood; blood from which red and white blood cells and platelets have been removed
- bluefin tuna — the largest tuna (Thunnus thynnus): it has bright red flesh and is important as a game and food fish
- bradykinesia — abnormal slowness of physical movement, esp as an effect of Parkinson's disease
- brahmacharya — the stage of life of the student, entailing study of the Vedas and complete celibacy, usually lasting for twelve years.
- broca's area — the region of the cerebral cortex of the brain concerned with speech; the speech centre
- buenaventura — a major port in W Colombia, on the Pacific coast. Pop: 250 000 (2005 est)
- bullamakanka — an imaginary very remote and backward place
- burj khalifa — a slender tapering skyscraper in Dubai; completed in 2009; the world's tallest man-made structure, standing at 828m (2716 ft)
- burnt sienna — a reddish-brown dye or pigment obtained by roasting raw sienna in a furnace
- cabora bassa — the site on the Zambezi River in N Mozambique of the largest dam in southern Africa
- calabrasella — a card game for three persons that is played with a 40-card pack made by removing the eights, nines, and tens from a regular 52-card pack.
- camomile tea — a medicinal beverage made from the fragrant leaves and flowers of any of these plants
- cancerphobia — an excessive fear of getting cancer
- carbamylurea — biuret.
- cardiophobia — An inordinate fear of heart disease.
- cardioplegia — deliberate arrest of the action of the heart, as by hypothermia or the injection of chemicals, to enable complex heart surgery to be carried out
- cassiopeia a — a very strong radio and X-ray source in the constellation Cassiopeia, identified as the remnant of a supernova thought to have occurred in the late 17th century
- caustic soda — Caustic soda is a powerful chemical substance used to make strong soaps and clean drains.
- cavaco silva — Aníbal (aˈnibal). born 1939, Portuguese statesman; prime minister (1985–95); president (2006–16)
- central asia — a region of Asia from the Caspian Sea in the west to central China in the east, and from southern Russia in the north to northern India in the south. It includes the five former Soviet republics of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, as well as Afghanistan and parts of Iran, China, Mongolia, Pakistan, India, and southwestern Siberia.
- cerebrotonia — a personality type characterized by restraint, alertness, and an intellectual approach to life: said to be correlated with an ectomorph body type
- cetatea albă — Romanian name of Belgorod-Dnestrovsky.
- chandragupta — Greek name Sandracottos. died ?297 bc, ruler of N India, who founded the Maurya dynasty (325) and defeated Seleucus (?305)
- chichen itza — a village in Yucatán state in Mexico: site of important Mayan ruins
- chlorenchyma — plant tissue consisting of parenchyma cells that contain chlorophyll
- chromatopsia — an irregularity in the ability to see colours properly
- chromonemata — a chromosome thread that is relatively uncoiled at early prophase but assumes a spiral form at metaphase.
- chromophilia — the property of staining readily.
- chromophobia — Lb biology The quality of being resistant to staining.
- chronophobia — Fear of the passing of time, or more generally of time itself.
- ciudad ojeda — a city in NW Venezuela, on Lake Maracaibo.
- closet drama — drama suitable for reading rather than performing
- cluster area — a place where a concentration of a particular phenomenon is found
- clytemnestra — the wife of Agamemnon, whom she killed on his return from the Trojan War
- cochin china — a former French colony of Indochina (1862–1948): now the part of Vietnam that lies south of Phan Thiet