welcome back to the channel where medical topics are made easy in this video we're going to simplify medical terminology before we get started make sure to turn on the caption and read along this will help with learning and memory retention so what is medical terminology it's the language used to describe things like anatomy structures conditions diagnoses procedures treatments and much more and learning these medical words can be tough at first it can almost feel like a different language but if you break the word down it can really help you better understand the medical term most medical terms have a beginning middle and end and when combined they help describe the word so let's take a look at each part the prefix is not always present but when it is it forms the beginning of the word the easy way to think of the prefix is it's generally the descriptive part of the medical term so it helps describe characteristics like a location direction number quantity amount size or color next is the root the root forms the middle of the word and if there is no prefix then it's going to form the first part of the word the easy way to think about the root is it gives the medical term its core meaning it's the subject of the word and it often pertains to a body part or system finally we have the suffix which forms the end of the word the easy way to think about the suffix is it brings meaning to the medical term the suffix might indicate a disease disorder condition procedure process specialty or test so let's take a look at an example we're going to use hyperthyroidism we can see the word has a beginning which is the prefix a middle which is the root and an end which is the suffix hyper means above normal or in excess thyroid refers to the thyroid gland and ism describes a condition so hyperthyroidism is a condition in which the thyroid gland is overactive and it produces too much hormone you can see once you know the meaning of these common word elements you'll be able to put them together and figure out what the medical term means we're going to focus on common prefixes in this video and then the next couple videos we're going to talk about the roots and suffixes so make sure to hit that subscribe button so you don't miss out on those and you're also going to want to check out the previous video on common medical abbreviations let's begin with common prefixes that describe a quantity so these are things like numbers or amounts hit pause in the video and see how many you can name or if you're just learning medical terms for the first time then you can watch the video a second time and see how many you get right starting with mono this means one or single you can think of a monocle which is a single eyeglass to remember mono refers to one uni also refers to one and you can think of a unicycle which has a single wheel the prefix buy die or diplo means two or double and try refers to 3 or triple you can think of a bicycle which has 2 wheels and a tricycle which has 3 wheels in medical terminology you can think of your biceps and triceps biceps means 2 heads or parts and triceps means three heads or parts next we have the prefix qua which means four or quadruple you can think of a quadrilateral here which is a four-sided shape or figure or in medical terms you can think of your quadriceps which contain four parts or muscles next we have semi or semi which refers to half and hemi also means half for one side so you can think of a semicolon which is a half of a colon next we have the prefix equa or iso which means equal and you can think of an equilateral triangle which has three equal sides in length finally we have u and normo which both mean normal so in medicine you can say u-glycemic which means a normal level of sugar in the blood and normotensive which means normal blood pressure we have a few more prefixes that have to do with quantities and also a couple that have to do with sizes that are included here as well again hit pause and see how many you can answer correctly first we have hyper which means above normal in excess high or elevated you can think of a hyper child who has a lot of energy to help you remember hyper refers to overactive or above normal hypo is the opposite it means below normal deficient low or decreased for example hypoglycemia is the state in which blood sugar or glucose is low next we have a or an which means absent or lacking this is easy to remember just use the a to remember the word absent an example in medicine would be anoxia which is the absence of oxygen reaching the tissues and organs pan and omni both mean all for example pan cytopenia is the deficiency of all three cell components of blood which are white blood cells red blood cells and platelets you can also think of omnivores which eat all food types including plant and animal origin multi or multi and poly both mean many or a lot this is easy to remember just use multi to think of multiple or you can think of polygon which is a shape that has multiple sides the prefix micro means small and opposite of that is macro which refers to large megalo is also another way of saying large for micro just think of microscope to help you remember small and then macro is simply going to be the opposite of that and then for megalo just think of mega to help you remember big finally we have oligo which means few or very little prefixes can also be used to describe color try to fill in the blanks and then see if you're right the general prefix for color is chromo or chromato you can think of chromosome which means colored body to help you remember chromo means color chromosomes got their name for the colorful dyes that are used to stain them in research in order to better see them so they become these colorful bodies next we have the prefix elb which refers to pale you can think of albino which refers to a person or animal with the congenital absence of pigment and this causes them to appear pale or white next is chloro which means green you can think of chlorophyll which is the green pigment and plants next is cyano which refers to blue for example in medical terms cyanosis refers to a bluish discoloration of the skin and this is typically from poor circulation or low oxygen levels in the blood next we have erythro which means red you may have heard of erythrocytes which are red blood cells glauco refers to opaque or gray next is leuko which means white similar to erythrocytes which are the red blood cells leukocytes are the white blood cells melano or melanome means black you can think of melanoma which is a cancer of the melanocytes and the melanocytes are what produce melanin and the dark pigmentation of the skin another prefix for gray is polio porphyr means purple and the prefix roto means a rose color red finally we have xantho which refers to yellow there's a medical term called xanthochromia so if we break the word down we know xantho means yellow and chromo means color xanthechromia refers to the yellow color seen in cerebrospinal fluid several hours after a bleed into the subarachnoid space usually from a subarachnoid hemorrhage so you can start to see that by breaking down the word and knowing the meaning for common prefixes can help bring meaning to the medical term next we have prefixes that have to do with time and speed how many can you name before looking at the answers the first two are easy pre means before and post means after you can think of pre-operative which refers to the period of time before a surgery and post-operative which refers to the time after a surgery there are two more prefixes that can mean before in their pro and anti an example medical term is antepartum which refers to before childbirth next we have the prefix re which means again this one is easy to remember just think of the word repeat to help you remember the prefix re means again then we have retro which means back or backward you can think of retro with fashion and when something is retro it's from the past and this will help you remember retro means backwards neo means new and you can think of neonatal which refers to a newborn child next is chrono which refers to time you can think of things being in chronological order which refers to the order in which events occurred from earliest to latest the last two prefixes tachy and brady both refer to speed tachy means fast and brady means slow these terms are frequently used with the heart tachycardia means a fast or rapid heart rate and bradycardia refers to a slow heart rate another example is tachypnea which is a fast or rapid respiratory rate let's move on to prefixes that have to do with location or position some locations have more than one prefix that can be used so we're going to make it easy by using the green box to label and visualize the different positions beginning with the first four prefixes which are epi hyper supra and super they all mean above upon or on remember we used hyper when talking about amounts above can refer to a position or it can refer to amounts like above normal so if we go to the green box we can label epi hyper supra and super above the image the next three prefixes which are sub hypo and infra all mean below beneath or under they're essentially the opposite of epi hyper and supra remember we also use typo when talking about amounts below can refer to a position or can refer to amounts like below normal or deficient so if we go back to the green box again we can label sub hypo and infra below the image next we have dextro which means right or on the right side we're going to label the right and left on the green box as if we're looking at a radiology image so things on the right will be on the left side of the screen and things on the left will be on the right side of the screen the final two prefixes are levo and sinistro which both mean left or on the left side and we've labeled that on the green box as well you can remember left and levo both start with the letter l to make it easier for you let's continue with more prefixes that have to do with location and position and take a look at the ones referring to front back and around the first three prefixes anti antero inventory or ventro all refer to front in front of or anterior if we go back to the green box we're now going to look at it from the side so the front is on the right of your screen and the back is on the left of your screen and we're going to label anti antero inventory or ventro on the front you might remember we used anti when we talked about time so anti means before and the before can be used as a time or before can be used as a position meaning in front of there are a couple tricks to remember that all these terms mean anterior anti antero and anterior i'll start with anti so that's pretty easy and for ventri you can think of ventriloquist which means stomach talker the stomach is in the front which can help you remember ventri means to the front the next two prefixes are postero and dorsi or dorso which mean back behind or posterior and we're going to label those behind the box postero is essentially the opposite of antero and dorsi or dorso is the opposite of ventri or ventro postero sounds like posterior so that one's easy to remember and for dorsey you can think of a dorsal fin on the back of a fish or a shark to remember back finally we have perry and circum which mean around or surrounding and we'll label those with a circle around the square you can also use the circle to think of peri and perimeter and circum and circumference to remember these terms mean around or surrounding as we continue with location and position there are also prefixes that have to do with inside outside away toward and through so let's take a look at those endo intra and intro all mean inside internal within interior or inner which we're going to label inside the box you can think of endoscope which is an instrument used to view the inside of the body and you can also remember that intro and intra along with inside internal inner and interior all begin with the letters i n or n the opposite of that is exo extra or x draw which all mean outside external exterior or outer and we're going to label that outside the box you can think of an exit sign which takes you outside and begins with the letters e x the same way that exo extra and extra do you might also see the prefix ecto which means outside as well think of ectoderm which is the outermost layer of cells and tissues in an embryo next we have ab which refers to moving away from and we have add which means moving toward in medical terms abduction and adduction are commonly used to describe the extremities moving away or toward the body so for example abducting the arms or legs that's a b ducting means moving them away from the body and adducting the extremities which is adducting refers to moving them toward the body the easy way to remember this is to think of adduction and add and you're adding to the rest of the body finally we have trans which means through or across you can think of transfer or transportation which is the movement across two points or translucent or transparent which is like going through or across something let's wrap this up with positions and locations that refer to middle lateral nearby and between miso along with meta or media or media all refer to middle or midline it's easy to remember because they all start with the letter m an example medical term is mesoderm which means the middle layer of an embryo the same way that ectoderm meant the outside layer next we have the prefix lateral which means lateral or to one side it's easy to remember because lateral and lateral sound the same next we have para which refers to nearby alongside or beside you can think of a parachute and if you're going to jump off a plane you want your parachute alongside or nearby you you can see we've got a red box labeled pera nearby the green one juxta means next to you can think of juxtapose which means putting two or more things side by side you can see we've got our green juxta box next to the main green one next we have enter which refers to between make sure to not confuse enter with intra or intro which means inside ambi or amphi mean both or both sides you can remember ambient ambidextrous which is the ability to use both hands equally well and you can use amphi and amphibians which live in both the water and on land throughout their life cycle and these terms will help you remember both finally we have ipsy which means the same and contra which means against these are typically used with the medical terms ipsilateral and contralateral where ipsilateral means the same side as what is being referenced versus contralateral is the opposite side of what is being referenced so if we reference two things on the same side of the green box as depicted by the stars then they're ipsilateral but if we reference something on the other side of the green box in relation to the first star then that second star is contralateral hopefully this helped you better understand medical terminology and prefixes if you found the video useful please hit the like button and comment down below make sure to subscribe to not miss out on the next medical terminology video along with other future medical topics made easy you can find all of the notes and tables for this video on the website linked down below in the description thanks for watching and hope you check out future videos