Medical Terminology

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Medical Terminology

• An Introduction

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Using Medical Abbreviations

• Shortened forms for convenience

• Usually just letters

• Agencies have their approved
• lists of abbreviationsif not on list,
• do not use

• Health care workers are expected to
• recognize most common
• abbreviations

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Medical Terminology was derived primarily from
Greek Latin
--these were the languages of scholarly people
in ancient times
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Greeks founders of modern medicine

• Hippocrates
• Four body humors
• black bile, yellow bile, blood phlegm
• Too much black bile caused depression
• Called condition melancholy
• Literally means condition of black bile

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Because of this use of two languages,
you might see different terms acronyms that
mean the same thing.

• Example
• EKG
• ECG

- K (kardia) heart --Greek
electro/kardio/gram
-C (cardia) heart -- Latin
electro/cardio/gram
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• Impossible to memorize all the medical words
  individually, so determine meaning of words by
  breaking it into parts
• These word parts are used over and over in
  different combinations
• If the word parts are known, then the word can be
  broken down and interpreted

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Medical terminology is very interesting
insightful.
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• Take the word Amazon.

• Greek mythology tells us of beautiful, fierce
  woman warriors.

• They were excellent in archery fighting.
• They fought oppression of men.
• Men called them Amazon warriors.

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What does the Greek word amazon mean?

• Amazon comes from the Greek word amazos
• The a is a prefix that means without
• mazos is the word root, which means breast
• Translated, Amazon refers to without a breast
• Greek mythology has it that these fierce women
  cut off their right breast in order to better
  handle their bows and arrows.

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Another interesting medical root is gastr/o

• This root means stomach

• gastr/itis inflamed stomach
• Gastr/ologist stomach doctor

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How is it, then, that the calf muscle is called
the gastrocnemius muscle?

• In ancient times, gastr/o was a Greek word
  meaning belly

• Since calf muscle bellied out, the root gastr/o
  was used to describe it.

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Now for the basics---
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Medical words are like individual jigsaw puzzles--
each piece is a word part that comes together to
form a medical term.
prefix
suffix
root
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Example
ologist
dermat
dermatologist skin doctor
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Medical terms may have 4 word parts

1. Root
2. Prefix
3. Suffix
4. Combining form

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1. the word root

• Gives basic meaning of term
• each medical term contains one or more roots
• Unlike English roots, which can stand alone, most
  medical roots are meant to be used in
  combinations.

Example heart - cardi/
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In medical terminology roots usually indicate a
body part
pulmon/o
dent/o
cardi/o
enter/o
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2. the prefix is

• a word part added before a root to modify its
  meaning
• many medical terms do not have a prefix

Example pretest
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A prefix usually indicates a

• Number
• Time
• Position
• Sense of negation

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Prefix examples

• number prefixes
• uni- (uni/corn)
• bi- (bi/lateral)
• tri- (tri/athlon)
• time prefixes
• pre- (pre/test)
• post- (post/test)

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• position prefixes
• sub- (sub/marine)
• trans- (trans/atlantic)
• hypo- (hypo/dermic)
• negation prefixes
• a- (a/moral)
• an- (an/aerobic)

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3. the suffix is

• a word part added to end of root to modify its
  meaning
• most medical terms have a suffix

Example root--teach to
teacher
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In medical terminology, a suffix often times
indicates

• a procedure ( -ectomy surgical removal of)

append/ectomy

• a condition ( -osis abnormal condition of)

halit/osis

• a disease ( -itis inflammation of)

tonsill/itis
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root / prefix / suffix examples

• Root example write
• Suffix example writer
• Prefix example rewrite
• See how both the suffix prefix modify the root?

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4. Combining Vowel

• usually an o that is used between word parts
• eases pronunciation
• Examples therm/o/meter

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• occasionally other vowels are used

i or e
pelv/i or chol/e

• A root word plus a vowel is referred to as a
  combining form.

combining form
root
hepat/
hepat/o
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• Roots combining forms are indicated by slash /
  between root and vowel.

cardi/o
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IMPORTANT
Try to learn combining forms rather than word
roots because
combining forms are easier to pronounce.
Example
Difficult to pronounce
gastr
Easier to pronounce
gastr/o
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Guidelines For Using Combining Vowels

• Rule 1
• If a suffix begins with a vowel, only use word
  rootnot the combining form.
• Example
• suffix -itis
• root suffix
• hepat -itis hepat/itis

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• Rule 2

-If a suffix begins with a consonant, use the
combining vowel
Example
word root
combin. vowel
suffix
therm/
o
-meter
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Rule 3

• To link two root words, always use a combining
  vowel.

Example
word roots
combin. vowel
suffix
splen/
o
-itis
hepat/
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In most instances, the combining vowel is
retained between two roots
-even if the 2nd root begins with a vowel.
word roots
combin. vowel
suffix
chondr/
o
-algia
arthr/
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• even if the last letter of the 1st root ends
  with a vowel (oste/)

• the 1st letter of the 2nd root begins with a
  vowel (arthr/),
• you must still use the combining o
• Example
• oste/ o arthr/ -itis

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• Rule 4

• Never use a combining vowel after a prefix, even
  if root begins with a consonant.

Example
Never, never, NEVER!!!
NO O HERE!
word root
suffix
prefix
post/
rhin/o
-plasty
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Three Basic Steps to Defining Interpreting
Medical Words

1. First, define the suffix
2. Second, define the prefix (if one is used)
3. Last, define the middle part (root) of word

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Example 1 sub/gastr/algia
gastr/
-algia
sub-


(under)
(stomach)
(pain)
prefix
root
suffix
1
3
2
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Example 2 trans/cardi/o/pulmon/itis
cardi/o
-itis
trans-
pulmon/



(across)
(heart)
(inflam.)
(lungs)
prefix
root
suffix
root
1
4
3
2
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Example 3 peri/oste/o/arthr/o/megaly
oste/o
-megaly
peri-
arthr/o



(around)
(bone)
(enlargement)
(joints)
prefix
root
suffix
root
1
4
2
3
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little note

• the root for heart cardi/
• when you put this root with suffix, -itis,
  drop one i
• instead of cardi/itis you would have
• carditis

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Time to practice!