Understanding Medical Terminology

• Medical terms are used daily in a medical setting through speech, reading, and decision-making.
• Understanding their component parts helps decipher new terms.

Breaking down HEMATOLOGY

• It can be divided into HEMAT/O/LOGY: root (HEMAT), combining vowel (O), and suffix (LOGY).
• Suffixes are at the end of the word.
• "LOGY" signifies "study of".
• Roots give the essential meaning, with "HEMAT" meaning "blood."
• Combining vowels like "O" connect the root and suffix without adding meaning.
• Therefore, HEMATOLOGY translates to "study of blood."

Breaking down ELECTROCARDIOGRAM

• It can be broken down into ELECTR/O/CARDI/O/GRAM: root (ELECTR), root (CARDI), and suffix (GRAM).
• "-GRAM" means "record".
• "ELECTR" means "electricity".
• "CARDI" means "heart".

Interpreting Medical Terms

• Read terms from suffix to beginning.
• ELECTROCARDIOGRAM signifies "record of the electricity in the heart," referring to the heart's electrical activity and muscle function.
• Combining vowels aid in dividing terms.
• ELECTR/O (electricity) and CARDI/O (heart) are combining forms.

Analyzing GASTR/O/ENTER/O/LOGY

• This term includes roots GASTR (stomach) and ENTER (intestines).
• It translates to "study of the stomach and intestines."

Other divided words

• GASTR/O/SCOPE means instrument to visually examine the stomach using the combining form (stomach) and suffix (instrument to visually examine).
• GASTR/IC (stomach - pertaining to) means pertaining to the stomach.
• CARDI/AC (heart – pertaining to) means pertaining to the heart.
• Combining vowels are dropped if the suffix begins with a vowel.
• Words ending in -IC or -AC are adjectives.

ENTER/ITIS

• ENTER/ITIS (intestines – inflammation) means inflammation of the intestines.
• GASTR/O/ENTER/ITIS (stomach – intestines – inflammation) means inflammation of the stomach and intestines with the combining vowel (O) existing between the roots EVEN if the second root begins with a vowel.

Prefixes

• Prefixes are added to the beginning of a term.
• SUB/gastr/ic (below) means pertaining to below the stomach.
• TRANS/gastr/ic (across) means pertaining to across the stomach.
• RETRO/gastr/ic (behind) means pertaining to behind the stomach.

Medical Terminology Parts Recap

• Roots give the essential meaning of the term.
• Suffixes are the ending
• Prefixes are added to the beginning of a term
• Combining vowels connect to the root
• Combining form is the combination of the root and combining vowel

Important Rules

• Read the meaning from suffix to beginning.
• Drop the combining vowel before a suffix that starts with a vowel.
• Keep the combining vowel between word roots, even if the second root begins with a vowel.

Medical terms can be understood by breaking them into parts: prefixes, suffixes, and roots. For example, Hematology is composed of hemat/o/logy (root, combining vowel, and suffix). Similarly, electrocardiogram consists of electr/o/cardi/o/gram.