Medical Prefixes Overview

Overview

This lecture introduces common medical prefixes, providing meanings and example terms to help decipher medical vocabulary.

"A-" and "an-" prefixes mean "without" (e.g., apnea = without breath; achlorhydria = without stomach acid).
Apnea refers to not breathing; achlorhydria is too little stomach acid; atony is loss of muscle tone.
Anaerobic means without oxygen (e.g., anaerobic metabolism).
Anemia means without or lacking blood (technically low hemoglobin).
Anesthesia means without sensation.

"Anti-" means against (e.g., antibiotic = against bacteria; anti-inflammatory = against inflammation).
"Ant(e)-" means before (e.g., antenatal = before birth).

"Brady-" means slow (e.g., bradypnea = slow breathing; bradycardia = slow heart rate).
"Tachy-" means abnormally fast (e.g., tachycardia = fast heart rate; tachypnea = fast breathing).

"Cardi/o-" refers to the heart (e.g., cardiologist = heart specialist; cardiomegaly = enlarged heart).
"Hem-/haem-" refers to blood (e.g., hematuria = blood in urine; hematology = study of blood).
"Hemi-" means half (e.g., hemiplegia = paralysis of half the body).

"Col-/coli-" relates to the colon (e.g., colitis = colon inflammation; colostomy = surgical colon opening).
"Chol-/chole-" refers to bile (e.g., cholecystectomy = gallbladder removal; cholangitis = bile duct inflammation).
"Cyst-" means bladder or fluid-filled sac (e.g., cystitis = bladder inflammation).
"Gastr/o-" refers to the stomach (e.g., gastritis = stomach inflammation).

"Endo-" means inside (e.g., endoscopy = looking inside; endocardium = inner heart layer).
"Enter/o-" means intestine (e.g., enteritis = intestine inflammation).
"Dys-" means abnormal or painful (e.g., dysuria = painful urination; dysphagia = difficulty swallowing).
"Glyc-" refers to sugar (e.g., hypoglycemia = low blood sugar; glycogen = stored sugar).
"Lipo-" refers to fat (e.g., lipoma = benign fatty lump; dyslipidemia = abnormal blood fats).
"Mal-" means abnormal (e.g., malnutrition = poor nutrition; malabsorption = poor absorption).
"Mast-" refers to breast (e.g., mastectomy = breast removal; mastitis = breast inflammation).
"Myo-" refers to muscle (e.g., myocardium = heart muscle; myopathy = muscle disease).
"Nephr/o-" refers to kidney (e.g., nephritis = kidney inflammation; nephrologist = kidney specialist).
"Pyo-" means pus (e.g., pyelonephritis = infection of kidney and pelvis).
"Hydr/o-" means water or sometimes urine (e.g., hydronephrosis = urine accumulation in kidney).
"Oligo-" means few or scanty (e.g., oliguria = low urine output).

Prefix — a word part added at the beginning of a term to modify its meaning.
Anemia — low hemoglobin or red blood cell levels.
Antibiotic — substance that kills bacteria.
Bradycardia — slow heart rate.
Cardiomegaly — enlarged heart.
Cholecystectomy — surgical removal of the gallbladder.
Colitis — inflammation of the colon.
Dysuria — painful urination.
Hypoglycemia — low blood sugar.
Lipoma — benign fat tumor.
Mastectomy — surgical breast removal.
Nephritis — kidney inflammation.
Tachypnea — rapid breathing.