Medical Terminology PDF

Why you need to study the medical language The health care workers and related people use medical terms to communicate Medical literature uses the medical language / terms It is a sort of global medical language Knowing the rules applied in making a medical term helps you to inte...

Why you need to study the medical language The health care workers and related people use medical terms to communicate Medical literature uses the medical language / terms It is a sort of global medical language Knowing the rules applied in making a medical term helps you to interpret the long and difficult term 3 Important elements of medical terms Parts of a medical term (word): 1. Prefix: Beginning part of a word 2. Root. It is a foundation of the term 3. Suffix: Ending part of a word IMPORTANT: Root can combine easily with suffix if the first letter of suffix is a vowel, however, if it is not then add a vowel after the root called Combing vowel it is usually “O” that links the root to the suffix and the root combined with "o" is called Combining form of the root. 4 Important elements of medical terms Parts of a term Root is the foundation of the term e.g., Hematology. Here Hemat is root Suffix: Ending part of a word e.g., Hematology. Here logy is suffix 5 Important elements of medical terms Parts of a term Combing vowel: vowel usually (O) that links the root to the suffix or the root to another root e.g., Hematology. Here o is combining vowel Combining form: combination of the root and the combining vowel e.g., Hematology. Hemato is the combining form of Hemet (the root) and logy is suffix Always read meaning of medical terms starting from suffix back to beginning of the term e.g. “Endometritis” Inflammation of the endometrium (of Uterus). 6  Root Frequently indicates a body part e.g. Hemat means Blood Or may be an action e.g. Cis means to cut Word roots are usually derived from Greek or Latin Greek word Meaning Word Root Kardia (heart) Cardi Gaster (stomach) Gastr Hepar (liver) Hepat Osteon (bone) Oste 7  Root Some medical terms are built without a word root e.g. Hypertrophy = Hypertrophy: Excessive development a) Hyper = Prefix meaning excessive. b) Trophy = Suffix meaning development. A single word root cannot stand alone A suffix and a combining vowel must be added to complete the term e.g. Hematology – process of study of blood Root Vowel Suffix 8  Combining Vowel/FORMS To make a medical term easier to pronounce, a combining vowel is added to combine two-word parts Between two-word roots Between word root and suffix Combing vowel is most commonly the letter ‘O’ A word root with a combining vowel is called a Combining Form e.g. cardi/o = cardio hemat/o = Hemato (combining form) Root Vowel 9  Combining Vowel/Forms It appears between word root and suffix. If the suffix begins with a vowel (a,e,i,o,u), do not use a combining vowel e.g. Gastr/o + itis = Gastritis , not gastroitis If the suffix begins with a consonant, use a combining vowel e.g. Enter/o + pathy = Enteropathy not enterpathy. Combining two roots tegether: e.g., In the term gastroenterology, “gastr” and “enter” are roots When two roots are there in a term, the combining vowel (o) is kept between two-word roots, even if the second root begins with a vowel (a,e,i,o,u) e.g.Gastr/o/ enter/ o/ logy = Gastroenterology (not Gastrenterology) 10