Medical Terminology Chapter 7 Flashcards

Root Words in Medical Terminology

• angi/o refers to blood vessels, important in circulatory and cardiovascular discussions.
• asthen/o denotes weakness, used in various medical conditions indicating fatigue or debilitation.
• blast/o signifies germ or developing cell, crucial in genetics and developmental biology.
• blephar/o represents the eyelid, commonly encountered in ophthalmology.
• cor/o, core/o pertains to the pupil, relevant in assessing vision and eye health.
• corne/o indicates the cornea, focusing on its structure and function in vision.
• cyst/o describes a bladder or sac, often mentioned in urology and pathology.
• dacry/o means tear, significant in discussions about eye function and tear production.
• dipl/o conveys the idea of double, often related to diplopia in vision.
• emmetr/o refers to measurements, particularly in optometry assessing visual acuity.
• ir/o, irid/o highlights the rainbow or iris, essential for understanding eye anatomy.
• kerat/o indicates hard or horny tissue, often discussed in dermatology and ophthalmology.
• lacrim/o is another term for tear, reinforcing concepts related to ocular health.
• leuk/o stands for white, commonly used in pathology to describe white blood cells.
• myc/o denotes fungus, important in microbiology and infectious diseases.
• nucle/o signifies nucleus, a key term in cellular biology and genetics.
• nyct/o, nyctal/o relates to night or nocturnal studies, relevant in sleep medicine.
• ocul/o refers to the eye, foundational to all ophthalmic studies.
• ophthalm/o also signifies the eye, often interchangeable with ocul/o in clinical settings.
• opt/o focuses on eye vision, essential for topics in optometry and vision science.
• phac/o, phak/o refers to the lens, crucial for understanding how the eye focuses light.
• phot/o signifies light, commonly addressed in vision and phototherapy discussions.
• presby/o denotes old age, widely used in age-related conditions and geriatric medicine.
• retin/o refers to the retina, key in discussions about visual processing and eye diseases.
• scler/o describes thick, hard, or scleral tissue, relevant in various medical specialties.
• son/o relates to sound, integral to discussions about audiology and imaging techniques.
• stigmat/o indicates a point, used in specific medical terminology to denote locations or marks.
• ton/o refers to tone, tension, or pleasure, often discussed in contexts of muscle tone and psychological states.
• vitr/o, vitre/o means glassy, typically mentioned in contexts involving the vitreous body of the eye.