1. Anatomy of a medical term

2. Many medical terms are composed of word part combinations.
Recognizing these word parts and their meanings simplifies learning medical terminology.
PREFIX: word part found at the beginning of a word.
* number
* location
* time
* status

3. Root: word part that gives the essential meaning of the word
* usually a body part/organ
Combining vowel: single vowel, usually an “o” that is added to the end of a root to make the word easier to produce.
Combining form: combination of the root and combining vowel
Suffix: word part found at the end of the word.
* procedure
* condition
* disease
* disorder

4. Contrasting Prefixes A: without or no An: without or no Ab: away from
Ad: toward
Anti: against
Dys: difficult, painful, bad
Eu: good, easy, normal
Endo: within or inside
Ex: without, out of
Ecto: outside
Hyper: elevated, higher or more than normal
Hypo: depressed, lower or less than normal
Inter: between
Intra: within
Poly: many or excessive
Oligo: scant or little

5. DIRECTIONAL PREFIXES Pre: before Post: after Sub: below, under or less
Super or supra: beyond or excessive
DIRECTIONAL PREFIXES
Prefix
Meaning
Epi
Upper or upon
Extra
Outside
Hyper
Above , increased, or more than normal
Hypo
Below, under or decreased
Infra
Below or beneath
Inter
Between
Intra
within

6. Prefix
Meaning
Meta
Beyond
Per
Throughout
Sub
Below, under or deceased
Super
Above, increased or more than normal
Supra
Above, increased, or more than normal
Trans
Through or across
Ultra
Above, increased, ore than normal

7. SUFFIXES
“Pertaining To” ac al an ar
ary
eal ic
ine
ous
tic

8. Surgical Suffixes Suffix Meaning -ectomy Surgical removal -pexy
Suture to stabilize
-plasty
Surgical repair
-ostomy
Surgically created opening
-otomy
Cutting into

9. Procedural Suffixes Suffix Meaning -centesis
Surgical puncture to remove fluid or gas
-gram
Record of
-graph
Instrument that records
-graphy
Procedure that records
-lysis
Separation or breakdown
-scope
Instrument to visually examine
-scopy
Procedure to visually examine inside the body
-therapy
treatment

10. Double R suffixes Suffix Meaning -rrhaiga or –rrhage Bursting forth
-rrhaphy
To suture
-rrhea
Flow, discharge
-rrhexis
rupture

11. Conditional and Structural Suffixes
Meaning
-algia and –dynia
pain
-itis
Inflammation
-malacia
Abnormal sofenting
-megaly
Enlargment
-osis
Abnormal condition
-pathy
Disease
-sclerosis
Abnormal hardening
-um
Structure

12. Analyzing Medical Terms
Dissect: analyze the word structurally by dividing it into its basic components
Begin at the end: After dividing the word into its basic parts, define the suffix first, the prefix second and then the root. If there are two roots, divide each one and read them from left to right.
Anatomical order: Where body systems are involved, the words usually are built in the order in which the organs occur in the body.
The order of the word parts in a medical term may also represent the order of blood flow through organs