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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