Introduction to medical

terminology
Introduction
• If you work in a medical setting, you use medical words every day. In
addition, you hear medical terms spoken in your doctor's office, read
about health issues, and make daily decisions about your own health
care and the health care of your family
Basic Word Parts
• Word root is the fundamental meaning of the term
• Prefixes and suffixes modify the word root
• Combining vowels connect other word parts
Word analysis

• The term HEMATOLOGY is divided into three parts:

• Once you divide the terms into their component parts and learn the
meaning of the individual parts, you can use that knowledge to
understand many other new terms.
• When you analyze a medical term, begin at the end of the word. The
ending is called a suffix. All medical terms contain suffixes. The suffix
in HEMATOLOGY is -LOGY, which means study of.
• Next, look at the beginning of the term. HEMAT is the word root. The
root gives the essential meaning of the term. The root HEMAT means
blood.
• The third part of this term, which is the letter O, has no meaning of its
own but is an important connector between the root (HEMAT) and
the suffix (-LOGY). It is called a combining vowel. The letter O is the
combining vowel usually found in medical terms.
Medical Terms Are Built from Word Parts

Word Part Example (Meaning)

• Word root • cardiogram (record of the heart)

• Prefix • pericardium (around the heart)
• Suffix • carditis (inflammation of the heart)
• Combining • cardiomyopathy (heart muscle disease)
form
Word Root
• Foundation of the term
• General meaning of word
• Often gives body system or part
• cardi = heart
• Or may be an action
• cis = to cut ( incision) ( excise : remove by cutting)
 Combining Vowels
• Make it possible to pronounce long terms
• Usually an “o”
• Combine two word parts:
• Between two word roots gastroenteritis
• Between word root and suffix (sclera/osis - arthr/oscopy)
 Combining Form
• Typically used to write word roots ( to ease
pronounciation when joining word root)
• Also use the word root/combining vowel format
• Examples:
• cardi/o
• arthr/o
• gastr/o
Common Combining Forms
• aden/o – gland
• carcin/o – cancer
• cardi/o – heart
• chem/o – chemical
• cis/o – to cut
• dermat/o – skin
• enter/o – small intestine
• gastr/o – stomach
Common Combining Forms
• hemat/o – blood
• hydr/o – water
• immun/o – immunity
• laryng/o – voice box
• nephr/o – kidney
• neur/o – nerve
• ophthalm/o – eye
Common Combining Forms
• ot/o – ear
• path/o – disease
• pulmon/o – lung
• rhin/o – nose
Prefix
• Not all medical terms have a prefix
• When written by itself, followed by a hyphen
• intra-
• hyper-
• multi-
 Common Prefixes
• a- without, away from
• an- without
• ante- before, in front of
• anti- against
• auto- self
• brady- slow
• contra- against
• de- without
 Common Prefixes
• dys- painful, difficult, abnormal
• endo- within, inner
• epi- upon, over
• eso- inward
• eu- normal, good
• extra- outside of
 Common Prefixes
• hetero- different
• homo- same
• hydro- water
• hyper- over, above
• hypo- under, below
• in- not, inward
• inter- among, between
• intra- within, inside
 Common Prefixes
• macro- large
• micro- small
• neo- new
• para- beside, near, abnormal, two like
parts of a pair
• per- through
• peri- around
 Common Prefixes
• post- after
• pre- before, in front of
• pseudo- false
• sub- below, under
• supra- above
• tachy- fast
 Common Prefixes
• trans- through, across
• ultra- beyond, excess
• un- not
Number Prefixes
• primi- first
• bi- two
• quadri- four
• hemi- half
• semi- partial, half
• mono- one
• tetra- four
• multi- many
• tri- three
• null- none
• poly- many
 Suffix

• Attached to the end of a term

• Adds meaning such as:
• condition -algia = pain
• disease -itis = inflammation
• procedure -ectomy = surgical removal
Common Suffixes
• -algia pain
• -cele hernia, protrusion
• -cyte cell
• -genesis produces, generates
• -logy study of
• -lysis destruction
Common Suffixes
• -lytic destruction
• -megaly enlargement, large
• -oma tumor, mass
• -pathy disease
• -logy study of
• -lysis destruction
Common Suffixes
• -rrhage excessive, abnormal flow
• -rrhea discharge, flow
• -sclerosis hardening
• -stenosis narrowing
• -therapy treatment
Adjective Suffixes
• Suffix may be used to convert a word root into a
complete word
• Translation of these suffixes is pertaining to
• New word can then be used to modify another word
Adjective Suffix Example
• To state that a patient has an ulcer in his or her
stomach:
• gastr/o = stomach
• -ic = pertaining to
• gastric = pertaining to the stomach
• gastric ulcer = ulcer found in the stomach
Surgical Suffixes
• -centesis puncture to withdraw fluid
• -ectomy surgical removal
• -ostomy surgically create an opening
• -otomy cutting into
• -pexy surgical fixation
• -plasty surgical repair
Procedural Suffixes
• -gram record or picture
• -graph instrument for recording
• -graphy process of recording
• -meter instrument for measuring
• -metry process of measuring
• -scope instrument for viewing
• -scopy process of visually examining
Word Building
• Putting together several parts to form a variety of terms
to convey the necessary information
• Begins with knowing the meaning of the various word
parts in order to select the correct ones
• Always remember the rules regarding the location of
each word part
Word Building
• For example:
• hypo- = below or under
• derm/o = meaning the skin
• -ic = meaning pertaining to
• Combine to form the term:
• Hypodermic
• Meaning: pertaining to under the skin
Interpreting Medical Terms
• Term to be translated
• gastroenterology

• Divide the term into its word parts

• gastr / o / enter / o / logy
Interpreting Medical Terms
• Define each word part
• gastr = stomach
• o = combining vowel, no meaning
• enter = small intestine
• o = combining vowel, no meaning
• -logy = study of
• Combine the meanings of the word parts
• study of the stomach and small intestine