Introduction to Medical Terminology
Overview
• Medical terminology is a specialized language used
by health care professionals
• Just like a foreign language, it has its own
vocabulary and ways of stringing together words in
a way that is understandable to everyone.
• But, unlike a foreign language, you come across
medical terminology every day in magazines and
newspapers with articles about new drugs, diets,
new medical treatments and on television medical
dramas.
Introduction
• Many medical terms have interesting, even weird
meanings or stories behind their evolution as words.
• I will bet you already know some medical terms.
• Have you heard of an esophagus, the tube that
connects your throat with your stomach?
• Esophagus comes from Greek words meaning “that
which swallows what we eat.”
• How about Fallopian tubes? They are named after a 16th
century Italian anatomist, Gabriello Fallopio.
• Okay, surely you have heard of a placenta. Placenta
means a “flat cake” in Greek, simply describing its
shape.
Medical Terminology
• Medical Terminology: a specialized language of
medicine used by health care providers
Medical Word Elements
• Elements of medical terms:
• Word root
• Combining form
• Suffix
• Prefix
• The meaning of the word changes when you change
one of these word elements
Prenatal
Word Roots
• Word Root: the foundation of a medical term that
contains its meaning
• Examples: hydr = water, arthr = joint, cardi = heart
Combining Forms
• Combining form: created when a word root is
combined with a vowel
• Hydr/o
• Arthr/o
• Cardi/o
• Combining vowel: usually an o but sometimes an e
or an i is used
• Bil/i
• Pelv/i
Linking Word Parts
• When to use a combining form:
• ONLY use when the suffix begins with a constant
• Examples:
• Arthr + -pathy =
• Arthr + -itis =
• Gastr + -centesis =
Suffixes
• Suffix: a word element placed at the end of a word
that changes the meaning of the word
• Describes pathology (disease or abnormality),
symptom, or a surgical or diagnostic procedure
• Examples:
• Mast + -ectomy = Mastectomy
• Mast + -itis = Mastitis
Prefixes
• Prefix: a word element placed the beginning of a
word that changes the meaning of the word
• Indicates number, time, position, direction, or
negation
• No connecting vowel is required
• Examples:
• Pre + nat + al =
• Post + nat + al =
Steps to Defining Medical Terms
1. Define the suffix or last part of the word
2. Define the first part of the word
3. Define the middle part(s) of the word
Examples: osteoarthritis
nephropathy
gastroenterologist
Rules to Building Medical Terms
1. A word root links a suffix that begins with a vowel
Examples: gastritis, appendectomy
2. A combining form links a suffix that begins with a
consonant
Example: colonoscopy
3. A combining form links a word root to another
root word
Examples: gastroenteritis, osteochondritis
Writing Medical Terms
Increased sugar in the blood
Hyper-
Glyc(o)
-emia
Hyper- + glyc(o) + -emia =
Hyperglycemia
Interpreting Difficult Terms
Gastroenteritis
Stomach
Intestines
Inflammation
Gastroenteritis is inflammation of the stomach and all
or part of the intestines
Pronouncing Medical Terms
• When pn is at the beginning of a word, the p is silent
• Ch is sometimes pronounced k
• When i is at the end of a word it is pronounced “eye”
• For ae and oe, only the second vowel is pronounced
• when pn is in the middle, p and n are both
pronounced
• When ps is at the beginning, the p is silent
• When es is at the end of a word, the e and s are
pronounced as separate syllables
Rules for singular and plural suffixes
Rules
Singular
Example
Plural
Singular
-a
Retain a and add e
Pleura
-ax
Drop x and add ces
Thorax
-en
Drop en and add ina
Lumen
-is
Drop is and add es
Diagnosis
-ix
Drop ix and add ices
Appendix
-ex
Drops ex and add ices
Apex
-ma
Retain ma and add ta
Carcinoma
-on
Drop on and add a
Ganglion
-um
Drop um and add a
Bacterium
-us
Drop us and add i
Bronchus
-y
Drop y and add ies
Deformity
Plural
Greek vs. Latin Roots
• Greek: used for diseases, conditions, diagnoses and treatments
• Latin: used for body parts, anatomical terms
Learning Check
• How do you Combine the root (nephr) , meaning “kidney,”
with the suffix (-itis), meaning “inflammation,” to form a word
meaning “inflammation of the kidney.”?
• How do you combine the root (rhin), meaning “nose” with the
suffix (-plasty) meaning “surgical repair or molding”, to form a
word meaning surgery of the nose?
Common word roots
Aden: gland
Algesi: sensitivity to pain
Arthr: joint
Append, appendic: appendix
Angi: vessel
Arteri: artery
Bi: life
Bronchi: bronchus
Cardi: heart
Cephal: head
Col: colon
Cyan: blue
Cyst: bladder, sac
Cyt: cell
Derm, dermat: skin
Electr: electricity
Encephal: brain
Enter: intestines
Erythr: red
Esthesi: feeling
Gastr: stomach
Ger, geront: aged, elderly
Gynec: woman, female
Hemat, hem: blood
Hepat: liver
Hist: tissue
Common word roots
Leuk: white
Mast: breast
My: muscle
Nat: birth
Nephr, ren: kidney
Neur: nerve
Odont, dent: tooth
Onc: tumor
Ophthalm: eye
Or: mouth
Oste: bone
Ot: ear
Opt, optic: vision
Orth: straight
Path: disease
Ped: child
Pharmac: medicine
Pod: foot
Psych: mind
Radi: x-rays
Rhin: nose
Therapeut: treatment
Therm: heat
Thromb: clot
Tonsill: tonsils
Tox, toxic: poison
Trache: trachea (wind pipe)
Common Surgical Suffixes
-centesis: surgical puncture
-clasis, -clast: to break
-desis: binding
-ectomy: excision, removal
-lysis: destruction,
separation, loosening
-pexy: fixation (of an organ)
-plasty: surgical repair
-rrhaphy: suture
-stomy: forming an
opening
-tome: instrument to cut
-tomy: incision
-tripsy: crushing
Diagnostic suffixes
-gram: record, writing
-graph: instrument for recording
-graphy: process of recording
-meter: instrument for measuring
-metry: process of measuring
-ospy: viewing
-pathy: disease
-scope: instrument for viewing
-scopy: visual examination
Pathological Suffixes
-algia, -dynia: pain
-cele: hernia, swelling
-crine: to secrete
-ectasis: dilation, expansion
-edema: swelling
-emesis: vomiting
-emia: blood condition
-itis: inflammation
-lith: stone, calculus
-malacia: softening
-megaly: enlargement
-oma: tumor
-paresis: weakening
-penia: decrease, deficiency
-phobia: fear
-plegia: paralysis
-osis: abnormal condition,
increase
Pathological Suffixes
-rrhage, -rrhagia: bursting forth
-rrhea: discharge, flow
-rrhexis: rupture
-sclerosis: hardening
-stenosis: narrowing
-toxic: poison
-trophy: nourishment, development
-iasis: abnormal condition produced by something
specific
Other suffixes
-ar, -ic, -al, -ary, -ial, -ous, -ac: pertaining to
-iatrics, -iatry: medicine
-logy: study of
-algia, -dynia: pain
-ad: toward
-ago, -ia, -osis, -ism: abnormal condition
-ist, -logist: specialist
-iatrician: one who practices
-gen, -genesis: forming, producing, origin
Common Prefixes
A-, an-: not, without
Bi-, di-: two
Circum-, peri-: around
Dia-, trans-: across, through
Dipl-, diplo-: double
Dys-: bad, painful, difficult
Epi-: above
Endo-, intra-: in, within
Homo-, homeo-: same
Hypo-, sub-, infra-: under,
below
Hyper-: above, excessive
Hemi-: one half
Macro-: large
Mal-: bad
Medi-: middle
Micro-: small
Mono-, uni-: one
Multi-, poly-: many
Post-: after
Pre-, pro-, ante-: before, in
front of
Primi-: first
Retro-: backward, behind
Super-: above, upper
Heter-: other, different
Writing Medical Terms
• Pertaining to above the heart
• Red blood cell
• Weakening of the bones
• Inflammation of the brain
• Tumor of the liver
Group Activity
•In groups of two, come up with at least
10 examples of words using combining
words and the different suffixes
•Write down the word and its meaning
on a piece of paper
•Put all group members names on the
paper