Transcript for:
Understanding Medical Prefixes

let's go over the top medical prefixes you want to know first up is a this means without for instance Aphasia this is where the person is without the ability to communicate then we have ab ab this means away so whenever we're talking about abduction this is where we're moving the arms away from the body then we have the opposite of that which is add a d this means toward for instance adduction this is where we're going to move the arms toward the trunk of the body next is a coup which means hearing and you may hear this term in acoustic trauma which is where we have damage to the hearing and then we have Acra ACR which means either extreme or extremity and you can see this prefix used in the term acrocyanosis and this is something that we look for in the newborn during the apgar assessment cyanosis means a blue colors so we seeing bluish colors in either the hands or the feet which are the extremities then there's Andro which means the male reproductive system it's found in the word androgens which is a sex hormone that promotes male characteristics and then we have Angie which means vessel so if we say angioma we're talking about a tumor that is mainly made up of blood vessels and then anti means before or in front of so whenever we're talking about anticubital this is the region before or in front of the elbow and then there's anti this means against or instead of so whenever we are talking about antibiotics we're talking about something that works against a living organism such as bacteria and then there's arth which means joint so when a person says they have arthritis they have something that affects their joint particularly it's inflaming joint an auto means self or own so whenever you say you have an autoimmune disease you have a disease that is attacking yourself or your own tissue then we have by bi that means to so whenever we talk about the bicuspid valve in the heart we're talking about a valve that has two cusp on it and then there's bio which means life therefore whenever we refer to the word biology this is the study of life and then there's blast which means bud or an immature form of something so when I say blasy that means I'm talking about an immature cell that will eventually mature and then we have Brady which means slow so if I say someone has bradicardia I'm talking about that they have a slow heart rate and this is typically less than 60 beats per minute in an adult and then we have Bronco Bronco deals with the lungs particularly the large tubes in the lungs like the bronchi or the bronchus so when we say Bronco constriction we're talking about those large tubes that have narrowed the next we have bucko which means cheek so if the nurse receives an order to give a medication the Buckle route we're going to give it in the cheek and then there's cardio which means heart so if a person is a cardiologist they study the heart and then we have spal which means the head so whenever you hear the term spalc that means the head region next up is cerebro which means brain or cerebrum therefore we say a person has had a cerebrovascular accident this is a type of stroke that has affected the brain or cerebrum and then we have circum which means around so whenever we say circumduction that means that we are moving the limbs around in a circular motion next up is cost which means the ribs therefore whenever I say the term Hosto vertebral I'm talking about the region where the ribs and the vertebra meet then we have Derm Derm means skin so whenever you say dermis we're talking about the middle layer of the skin and then we have this with dyss and this means difficult so if you say a patient has dysphasia dysphasia that suffix part is talking about eating or swallowing and when we put dyss in front of it that prefix that means that they have difficulty swallowing or eating followed by that is endo which means within therefore if we say a person is having an endoscopy we're talking about them having a procedure where we're going to go with a scope within the body to look around and see what's going on next is intro which means intestine so if a person has intis that means that they have inflammation of their intestines and then Epi means above or on top of therefore whenever I refer to the epidermis I'm talking about that top layer of the skin next is arthro which means red whenever I say the word arthros site I'm talking about the red blood cells then there's gastra which means stomach therefore whenever person has gastritis that means they have inflammation of their stomach glosso means tongue and you'll see this prefix whenever we're talking maybe about certain cranial nerves like the glosso fenil nerve this is cranial nerve nine that we can test and this controls the movement of her tongue next is gyo which means female reproductive system if a person is a gynecologist that is a person who studies the female reproductive system then we have Himi this means half in your brain you have two hemispheres two halves here is hemo or heema this means blood a person who studies the blood or blood disorders is called a hematologist next up is hapat this means liver if we say a person has hepatitis we're talking about inflammation that affects the liver then Hydro this means water a condition that uses this prefix is like hydron nephrosis this is where we have too much water extra fluid on the kidneys and it causes it to swell and enlarge next up is hyper which means excessive or high there are a lot of electrolyte imbalances that love to use this prefix for instance like hypernia when we take this word apart look at its prefix its root and its suffix you get high or excessive amounts of sodium in the blood then we have an opposite prefix with this which is hypo this means low or below so the opposite of a hyper nuta would be a hypo nuta and this would mean that we have low amounts of sodium in the blood next up is inter which means between when you hear the term intercostal that means the space between the ribs then we have intra i n t r a which means within or inside and this prefix is used like in the word intravenous we may give you intravenous Solutions these are solutions that are going to go within or inside your Venus system next is the prefix ISO which means equal this can be used in the word isotonic or isot tonic Solutions this means that these Solutions have the same or equal tonicity as your blood plasma next is the prefix lipo which means fat when you hear the term lipo suction that means that we're sucking out fat and then macro which means large whenever you hear that someone has macr cdic anemia that means that their red blood cells are way too large Menino means membrane whenever a person has men itis that means that that membrane around the spinal cord head's brain is inflamed then we have meta which means Beyond so the metat tarsals are the bones that are just beyond the tarel of the foot bone and here we have Micro which means small so if I say a person has micr ciic anemia this is where their red blood cells are way too small which is the opposite of macro ciic and then here we have Mayo which means muscle so whenever we're talking about The myocardium we're talking about a layer of the heart muscle and then the prefix nefro means kidney if you have a kidney problem you want to see a nephologist neuro means nerve if you have a nerve problem or a brain problem you want to see a neurologist and then olow means scanty or little in nursing we'll use the term agoria to describe a patient who has little to know you're an output and then here we have opthamol which means ey if you have an eye problem you're going to go to an opthamologist next is Osteo which means bone if a person has osteoporosis that means that they have an issue with their bones and then oo Otto means ear sometimes medications can cause oo toxicity that means that they cause issues with our ear sometimes hearing issues next is para which means beside or near whenever you hear someone talking about the parathyroid they're talking about a structure that is near or beside the thyroid gland here is Parry which means surrounding or around whenever you hear the term pericardium we're talking about the layer around the heart or surrounding the heart here is FB P hle EB it means vein this pref is used in the word photomy and this is a procedure where we go inside the vein to remove blood then there's post which means after for instance postpartum care this is the care that is given after childbirth then we have pre which is the opposite of post this means before if we say prenatal care this is the care that is given before child birth and then the prefix pseudo means fake or false whenever you hear the term pseudo science this is something trying to claim it science but it's actually false and fake pmo means lungs whenever someone is a pulmonologist they provide care to the lungs Rhino means nose whenever a person has rtis they have inflammation that's affecting their nose or their nasal area and the prefix spleno means spleen if a person has splin megal that means they have largement of their spleen sub means below we use the term subl lingual to let us know that we're talking about the area below the tongue Supra means above or on top Supra ventricular tacac cardia means that this is a rhythm that's really fast that originates above or on top of the ventricles tacki is fast whenever we say a person is Tac cardic that means that their heart rate is really fast in an this is a rate greater than 100 beatss per minute thorco means chest whenever we're talking about thoracic we're talking about the chest region trans means across if we say transmembrane that means it goes across the membrane and then lastly Euro this means we're talking about the urinary tract system sometimes a patient may have a urostomy and this is an opening that leads us to the urinary tract system okay so that wraps up this review if you'd like to watch more videos in this series you can access it via the link in the description below