The doctor asked the patient to stay relaxed during the pre-operative examination.

pre-operative 是由前缀 pre-（表示"在...之前"）和形容词 operative（"手术的"）组成的复合形容词。operative 来自名词 operation（手术）的形容词形式。 pre-operative 指"手术前的"，用来描述手术前进行的检查或准备工作。