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Medical Terminology
A special vocabulary used by healthcare professionals for effective and accurate communication
Concepts of Medical Terminology
Based mainly on
Greek
and
Latin
words, medical terminology is consistent and uniform
Most medical terms can be divided into component parts –
roots
,
prefixes
, and
suffixes
that maintain the same meaning whenever they appear
Root
The fundamental unit of each medical word, establishes the basic meaning and is the part to which modifying word parts are added
Suffix
A short word part or series of parts added at the end of a root to modify its meaning
Prefix
A short word part added before a root to modify its meaning
Not all
roots
are
complete
words
The same root may have different meanings in
different fields of study
Compound
word
Contains more than one root
Combining form
A root shown with a combining vowel added to aid pronunciation when a suffix or another root beginning with a consonant is added
A
combining vowel
is usually not used if the ending begins with a vowel
Words ending in x
If there is a consonant before the x, the x is changed to a
g
If a vowel comes before the x, the x is changed to a
c
Suffixes beginning with
-rh
When you add a suffix beginning with -rh to a root, the r is doubled
Abbreviation
Shortened words or initials used to save time in writing
medical reports
and
case histories
Acronym
An abbreviation formed from the first letter of each word in a phrase
Symbols
and
abbreviations
can save time, but they can also cause confusion if they are not
universally
understood
Some
abbreviations
and
symbols
are subject to error and should never be used
Suffix
Indicates that the word is a noun or an adjective and often determines how the definition of the word will begin
Types of Suffixes
Nouns
: a person, place, or thing
Adjectives
: words that modify nouns
Plurals
: endings that convert single nouns to multiples
Additional
suffixes pertain to disease states, medical treatments, or specific body systems
Noun Suffixes
Convert roots into nouns, may appear with different combining vowels like
-osis
,
-iasis
,
-esis
, or
-asis
Adjective Suffixes
Endings that mean "
pertaining
to," "
like
," or "
resembling
"
Plural Suffixes
Special
plural
forms based on the ending of the word
Prefix
A short word part added before a word or word root to modify its meaning
ia means loss of. it also mean a
conditon
of
mentis
means mind
ism means
condition
of
sis means a
condition
of
y means
condition
of
ian means
specialist
in a
field of study
iatrics means
medical specialty
iatry and ics means
medical specialty
ist means
specialist in a field of study
logy menas
study of
ac means
pertaining to
al means
pertaining to
ar means
pertaining to
form means
like or resembling
ary means
pertaining to
ic means
pertaining to
ical means
pertaining to
ile means
pertaining to
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