Overview
This lecture covers effective strategies for understanding and learning medical terminology by breaking down complex words into meaningful components, and provides common roots, prefixes, and suffixes used in medicine.
Approaching Medical Terminology
- Medical terms are mostly built from Greek and Latin roots.
- Breaking terms into prefix (beginning), root (middle), and suffix (ending) helps in understanding meanings.
- Keeping a personal list or dictionary of Greek and Latin roots is recommended.
Common Medical Roots
- Osteo relates to bone (e.g., osteocyte, osteoarthritis).
- Myo/Sarco relate to muscle (e.g., myofibril, sarcoplasmic).
- Neuro refers to nerves (e.g., neuron).
- Derm refers to skin (e.g., dermatitis, dermatologist).
- Angio refers to blood vessels (e.g., angioplasty).
- Veno/Phlebo refer to veins (e.g., phlebotomist).
- Cardio refers to the heart.
- Rhino refers to nose (e.g., rhinoplasty).
- Tympano refers to eardrum (e.g., tympanic membrane).
- Nephro relates to kidneys (e.g., nephron).
- Cranio means skull; Ophthalmo/Oculo mean eye; Oto means ear.
- Thrombo refers to blood clots; Hepato to liver; Mammo to breast.
- Colo/Gastro/Ilio/Thoro/Pneumo/Pleuro refer to large intestine, stomach, small intestine, chest, lung, and lung membrane respectively.
Prefixes for Size, Rate, Color, and Direction
- Macro/Micro mean large/small.
- Megal- means enlarged.
- Hyper-/Hypo- indicate more/less activity.
- Tachy-/Brady- refer to fast/slow rates (e.g., tachycardia, bradycardia).
- Chloro- (green), Leuko- (white), Erythro- (red), Cyano- (blue).
- Endo/Intra- mean within, Inter- means between, Extra- means outside, Peri- means around, Trans- means across.
Common Suffixes and Testing Procedures
- -ectomy: removal (e.g., appendectomy).
- -gram: picture or record.
- -graph: writing or recording.
- -scope: instrument for viewing.
- -stomy: creating an opening.
- -emia: blood condition.
- -itis: inflammation.
- -osis: condition or disease.
- -pathy: disease.
Interpreting Medical Terms (Examples)
- Hypercholesterolemia: hyper (elevated) + cholesterol + emia (blood condition) = elevated blood cholesterol.
- Dermatitis: derm (skin) + itis (inflammation) = inflammation of the skin.
- Colostomy: colo (colon) + stomy (opening) = creating an opening in the colon.
Key Terms & Definitions
- Prefix — word part at the beginning that modifies meaning.
- Root — core meaning of the word.
- Suffix — ending part that modifies meaning, often type or condition.
- Osteo — bone.
- Myo/Sarco — muscle.
- Neuro — nerve.
- Derm — skin.
- Angio — vessel.
- Cardio — heart.
Action Items / Next Steps
- Start keeping a personal list or flashcards of common medical roots, prefixes, and suffixes.
- Practice breaking down unfamiliar medical terms into components.
- Review and memorize the most frequently used Greek and Latin roots in medical contexts.