Medical Terminology
Reference 18
Medical Terminology is the lingo used by most health care professionals. EMS frequently uses
only terms that relate to the body, but in your reading and studying, you will come across many
different terms that you may not understand. Most medical words are either derived from Greek
or Latin and usually have a prefix, root and suffix. Below is a brief synopsis of some commonly
encountered terms in EMS.
Common Prefixes
a – not, without, lacking, deficient
brady – slow
hypo – below normal, deficient, under, beneath
bi – two, twice, double, both
contra – against, opposite
para – beside, beyond, against, apart from
supra – above, over
dys – bad, difficult, abnormal, incomplete
tachy – fast
hyper – beyond normal, excessive
circum – around
hemi – one-half
super – above, excess
uni – one
Common Roots
angi/o – blood vessel, duct
arthrio – joint, articulation
carcin/o – cancer
crani/o – skill
encephal/o – brain
gastr/o – stomach
lapar/o – flank, abdomen, abdominal wall)
oste/o – bone
phleb – vein
therm/o – heat
vas/o – vessel, duct
neur/o – nerve
tension - pressure
arteri/o – artery
bronch/o – larger air passages of the lungs
cardi/o – heart
derm/o, dermat/o - skin
enter/o – small intestine
hepat/o – liver
nephr/o – kidney
path/o – disease
pneum/o, pneumon/o – lung
thromb/o – clot, lump
sphygm/o – pulse
hem/a/o/ato – blood
Common Suffixes
algia – painful condition
ectomy – surgical removal of organ or part
iasis – condition
logy – study of
oma – tumor, swelling
pathy – disease of a part
plegia – paralysis
rrhage – abnormal discharge
stasis – stopping, controlling
paresis – numbness or partial paralysis
cyte – cell
emia – condition of the blood
itis – inflammation
megaly – an enlargement
osis – process, an abnormal condition
plasia – development, formation
pnea – breath, breathing
sclerosis – hardened condition
stomy – surgically creating a new opening
Common Mistake
Mistake: -phasia vs. –phagia: These two roots are commonly placed with the prefixes of a- and
dys-. Dysphasia is difficulty speaking where as dysphagia is difficulty swallowing. They are
pronounced the same. Think “S” = speaking and “G” = guts.
Common Used Terms
apnea
hypotension
gastroenteritis
vasoconstriction
hemiparesis
– Think of the definition!
bradypnea
tachypnea
hypertension
arteriosclerosis
tachycardia
bradycardia
tonsillitis
afebrile
hemiplegia
tracheostomy
dyspnea
neuralgia
vasodilation
paraplegia
bronchospasm