Medical Terminology

• 1st century B.C. (during Hipocrates and Aristotle)
• Most derived from Greek or Latin
• Eponyms
• Acronyms

• Generally describe:
• a disease,
• a condition,                    Ex: stomat/itis - inflammation
• a treatment, or                       of the mouth
• a diagnosis
• (older language than Latin)

Describe: anatomical structures

Ex:  or/al - pertaining to the mouth

• words named after a person
• (Parkinson's Disease, after Dr. Parkinson)

lengthy statements shortened by using first letter of each word

LASER: Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation

• Word roots
• Combining forms
• Suffixes
• Prefixes

• the foundation of a medical term and contains its primary meaning.
• MOST derived from Greek or Latin

• is created when a word root is combined with a vowel
• usually an o, sometimes an i
• enables two word elements to connect
• Ex: gastr/o, erythr/o, immun/o

• a word element placed at the end of a word that changes the meaning of the word
• usually describes a pathology (disease or abnormality), symptom, surgical or diagnostic procedure, or part of speech
• Ex: tonsill/itis (inflammation), tonsill/ectomy (excision, removal)

• a word element attached to the beginning of a word or word root
• not all med terms have a prefix
• adding/changing prefix changes meaning of a word
• usually indicates a number, time, position, direction or negation
• Ex:  an/esthes/ia, hyper/therm/ia, intra/muscul/ar

• Defining medical words
• Building medical words

• Ex: gastroenteritis
• 1. Define suffix: itis - means inflammation (of)
• 2. Define first part of word (may be word root, combining form, or prefix): gastr/o - means stomach (&)
• 3. Define middle parts of word: enter - means intestine

• Rule #1: a root word links a suffix that begins w/ a vowel
• Rule #2: a combining form (root + o) links a suffix that begins with a consonant
• Rule #3: a combining form links a root to another root & forms compound word. 
•               : rule holds true even if next root begins with vowel-osteoarthritis
•               **rules for linking multiple roots to ea. other slightly differ from rules for linking roots & combining forms to suffixes.

• Word roots
• Combining Forms
• Suffixes
• Prefixes

arth

False - usually begins with an o

False - begins with a vowel

True

True

False - define the suffix, then first part of word, then middle of word

True - intra-prefix;

muscul-word root; ar-suffix