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Medical Terminology

This document provides an overview of how to break down and understand medical terminology. It discusses the important word parts including roots, suffixes, prefixes, and combining vowels. Roots provide the essential meaning, suffixes indicate the word type, and prefixes can modify the meaning. Combining vowels connect word parts. The document provides examples of analyzing terms like HEMATOLOGY, ELECTROCARDIOGRAM, GASTROENTEROLOGY, and prefixes that modify GASTRIC. It emphasizes starting with the suffix and reading to the beginning and across to understand a term's overall meaning.

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1K views

Medical Terminology

This document provides an overview of how to break down and understand medical terminology. It discusses the important word parts including roots, suffixes, prefixes, and combining vowels. Roots provide the essential meaning, suffixes indicate the word type, and prefixes can modify the meaning. Combining vowels connect word parts. The document provides examples of analyzing terms like HEMATOLOGY, ELECTROCARDIOGRAM, GASTROENTEROLOGY, and prefixes that modify GASTRIC. It emphasizes starting with the suffix and reading to the beginning and across to understand a term's overall meaning.

Uploaded by

drdemore
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Medical Terminology

Porterville College
Breaking Down Medical
Terms
Important Word parts:

 Root: gives the essential meaning of


the term
 Suffix: is the word ending
 Prefix: is a small part added to the
beginning of a term
Continued...

 Combining vowel: connects roots to


suffixes and roots to other roots
 Combining form: is the combination of
the root and combining vowel
Start with the suffix…

 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, read the beginning of the
word..

 Now 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.”
Combining vowel (s)…

 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.
Putting it together…

 Putting together the meaning of the


suffix and the root, the term
HEMATOLOGY means:
“the study of the blood”
HEMATOLOGY

HEMAT / O / LOGY
Root Combining Suffix
(“blood”) vowel (“study of”)

Combining form
Words with two roots…
 Each word root uses a combining vowel
 Remember combining vowels connect roots to
suffixes and roots to other roots.
 The combining vowel plus the root is called a
combining form.
 How many combining forms are there in the
word:
ELECTROCARDIOGRAM ?
ELECTROCARDIOGRAM

ELECTR / O / CARDI / O / GRAM

Root Root Suffix


(“electricity”) (“heart”) (“record”)

Combining Combining
vowel vowel
TWO COMBINING FORMS

Roots: ELECTR/O = electricity


CARDI/O = heart

Suffix: GRAM = record


ELECTROCARDIOGRAM

 Thus the entire term means:

“record of the electricity in the heart”


GASTROENTEROLOGY

GASTR / O / ENTER / O / LOGY

Root Root Suffix


(“stomach”) (“intestines”) (“study of”)

Combining Combining
vowel vowel
GASTROENTEROLOGY
 The two combining forms are GASTR/O
and ENTER/O.
 The entire word (reading from the suffix,
back to the beginning of the term, and
across) means:
“study of the stomach and the intestines”
GASTROSCOPE

GASTR / O / SCOPE

Combining form Suffix


(“stomach”) (“instrument
to visually
examine”)

“Instrument to visually examine the stomach”


GASTRIC

GASTR / IC

Root Suffix
(“stomach”) (“pertaining to”)

“Pertaining to the stomach”


GASTR / IC
 Notice that the combining vowel is
dropped when the suffix (-IC) begins
with a vowel.
 Words ending in –IC are adjectives and
mean “pertaining to.”
CARDIAC

CARDI / AC

Root Suffix
(“heart”) (“pertaining to”)

“Pertaining to the heart”


CARDI / AC
 Again, the combining vowel is dropped
when the suffix (-AC) begins with a
vowel.
 Words ending in –AC are adjectives and
mean “pertaining to.”
ENTERITIS

ENTER / ITIS

Root Suffix
(“intestines”) (“inflammation”)

“Inflammation of the intestines”


ENTER / ITIS
 Again, the combining vowel is dropped
when the suffix (-ITIS) begins with a
vowel.
GASTROENTERITIS

GASTR / O / ENTER / ITIS

Root Suffix
(“stomach”) (“inflammation”)
Root
(“intestines”)

“Inflammation of the stomach and intestines”


GASTR / O / ENTER / ITIS

 Notice that the combining vowel (O)


remains between the two roots even
though the second root (ENTER) begins
with a vowel.
 Remember combining vowels connect
roots to suffixes and roots to other roots.
Now for the Prefix…
 Many medical terms also have a word
part attached to the beginning of the
term. This is called a Prefix.
 It can change the meaning of a term in
important ways
 For example, watch what happens to the
meaning of the following medical terms
when the prefix changes…
_____GASTRIC
PREFIX

SUB / gastr / ic = “pertaining to below


the stomach”

Prefix
(“below”)
_____GASTRIC
PREFIX

TRANS / gastr / ic = “pertaining to across


the stomach”

Prefix
(“across”)
_____GASTRIC
PREFIX

RETRO / gastr / ic = “pertaining to


behind the
stomach”

Prefix
(“behind”)
REVIEW
 Root: gives the essential meaning of
the term
 Suffix: is the word ending
 Prefix: is a small part added to the
beginning of a term
 Combining vowel: connects roots to
suffixes and roots to other roots
 Combining form: is the combination of
the root and combining vowel
Important Rules to
Remember
Read the meaning of medical words from
the suffix to the beginning of the word
and then across.

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