MEDİCAL ENGLİSH

OP.DR.ÖZGÜR İSMAİL TÜRK

 OBJECTİVES
1. Spell and define the medical words
2. Define and use entire basic structure of medical words.
(root, prefix, suffix, combinations, spelling, and definitions)
3. Build and dissect medical terms from roots/suffixes
4. Identify medical terms labeling the word parts.
5. Determine whether a term is singular or plural.

WORDS TO KNOW
combining forms word root
prefix plural
singular suffix
ORIGIN OF MEDICAL
TERMINOLOGY
• Most medical terms derive from Greek or Latin origins.
Some terms are associated with a physician or person
who discovered a particular part of the anatomy or a
disease

HYSTE
R/O!
 PREFIX
• The prefix is the component that goes at the beginning
of a word and modifies its meaning.

gastric hypo- hypogastric

 SUFFIX
• The suffix is the component found at the end of a word
and completes the medical term. A suffix can change a
word from a noun to an adjective when added to either
the word root or the combining form

pyro- -mania -ac pyromaniac

WORD ROOTS AND
COMBINING FORMS
• A word root most often describes part of the body and
sometimes denotes color
• Combining forms are word roots that have a vowel
added to the end of the word root, which makes it easier
to combine with suffixes or other word roots. Most
often, the combining form vowel is an o; the other two
most common vowels seen in combining forms are a
and i
COMMON COMBINING FORMS
AND WORD ROOTS

combining form word root meaning

cardi/o cardi heart

cyan/o cyan blue

muscul, my,myos
muscul/o, my/o,myos/o muscle

neur/o, neur/i neur nerve

ren/o, nephr/o ren, nephr kidney

gastr/o gastr stomach

ur/o ur urine

colon/o colon colon

BREAKING A MEDICAL TERM
APART
• 1. Start with the suffix. A suffix usually indicates a
procedure, condition, disorder, or disease and always
goes to the right (back of the word).
• 2. Next, identify the prefix. A prefix often indicates a
location, presence or absence, quantity, size..One
important point to note is that not every medical term
contains a prefix.
• 3. Identify the word roots and combining forms. The
word root or combining form is the part of the word that
defines a part of the anatomy (or sometimes a color),
and there can be more than one of these in a medical
term
BUILDING/BREAKING APART

endo- cardi/o -itis endocarditis

hyper- algesi/a -ic hyperalgesic

dys- morph/o -ic dysmorphic