Chapter 1
Ready, Set, Go
Introduction to Veterinary Medical
Terminology
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Anatomy of a Medical Term
• Many medical
terms are
composed of word
part combinations
• Recognizing word
parts and their
meanings will help
in understanding
medical terms
• Learning
veterinary medical
terminology is
much easier once
you understand
how word parts
work together to
form medical
terms
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Anatomy of a Medical Term
• Prefix: word part found at the
beginning of a word
• Root: word part that gives the
essential meaning of the word
• Suffix: word part found at the end of
a word
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Other Word Parts
• Combining vowel: a single vowel,
usually an “o,” that is added to the
end of a root to make the word
easier to pronounce
• Combining form: the combination of
the root and the combining vowel
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Prefixes
• Prefixes usually,
but not always,
indicate location,
time, number, or
status
• Prefixes will be
presented with a
hyphen following
them
• Pre- means before:
– Preoperative means
before an operation
• Peri- means around:
– Perioperative means
pertaining to the time
around an operation
• Post- means after:
– Postoperative means
after an operation
– prefixCopyright © 2006 Thomson Delmar Learning
Learning Prefixes
• Learning prefixes may be easier when
they are presented in pairs or in
similar groups:
– A- and an- both mean without or no
– Ab- means away from; ad- means
towards
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Roots
• Roots are the
foundation of
medical terms
• Roots usually, but
not always,
describe the part
of the body that is
involved
• Roots cannot
stand alone:
– A suffix must be
added to complete
the term
– A prefix may be
added to the term
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Combining Forms
• Combining forms = • Examples of
root plus a vowel
combining forms:
– Nas/o means nose
• There may be
– Rhin/o means nose
more than one
– Ren/o means kidney
combining form for
a body part
– Nephr/o means
kidney
• Combining forms
will be presented
with a backslash
– hepat/o
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Suffixes
• Suffixes usually,
but not always,
indicate the
procedure,
condition, disorder,
or disease
• There are many
related groups of
suffixes
– “pertaining to”
suffixes
– surgical suffixes
– procedural suffixes
– the double “r”
suffixes
– conditional suffixes
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Suffixes
• Suffixes may
change the part of
speech of a word
• Different suffixes
may change the
word from a noun
to an adjective
• -osis (noun)
versus -tic
(adjective)
• -emia (noun)
versus -ic
(adjective)
• -us (noun) versus
-ous (adjective)
• -um (noun) versus
-ac (adjective)
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Suffix Variation Depending on
Usage
Insert Figure 1-2
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Combining Vowels
• A combining vowel
may be used to
make the medical
term easier to
pronounce
• A combining vowel
is not used when
the suffix begins
with a vowel
• A combining vowel
is used when the
suffix begins with a
consonant
• A combining vowel
is used when two
or more word roots
are joined
• A prefix does not
need a combining
vowel
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Analyzing Medical Terms
1. Dissect—analyze the word structurally
by dividing it into its basic components.
2. Begin at the end—then define the suffix
first, the prefix second and then the
roots. If there are two roots, read them
from left to right.
3. Anatomic order—where body systems
are involved, the words are usually built
in the order in which the organs occur in
the body
• except in some diagnostic procedures in which the
tools or substances are passed in the opposite
direction of anatomic order (retrograde).
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Analyzing Medical Terms
• Example: ovariohysterectomy
• Divide the term:
– ovari/o/hyster/ectomy
• Start at the end:
– -ectomy is surgical removal
– ovari/o means ovary
– hysteri/o means uterus
• Anatomic order: body parts are in order
• Ovariohysterectomy means surgical
removal of the ovaries and uterus
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General Pronunciation
Guidelines
• A medical term is easier to understand
and remember when you pronounce it
correctly
• In general,
– all vowels in scientific words are
pronounced
– consonants are pronounced as in other
English words
• Use Table 1-2 as a pronunciation guide
• Remember, there may be more than one
correct way to pronounce a word
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Spelling Is Always Important
• Accuracy in spelling medical words
is extremely important
– Changing one or two letters may completely change the meaning of a word:
• hepatoma versus hematoma
• urethra versus ureters
– Some words sound alike, but are spelled
differently and have very different
meanings:
• ileum versus ilium
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Using a Medical Dictionary
• Alphabetically look for words as you
think they would be spelled starting with
the first and second letters of the word
• If the term is not spelled the way it
sounds, consider the following:
–
–
–
–
–
F sounds may begin with f or ph
J sounds may begin with g or j
K sounds may begin with c, ch, k, or qu
S sounds may begin with c, ps, or s
Z sounds may begin with x or z
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