Medical science has made a tremendous progress over many decades. The development has been rapid and incredible. To quote Hippocrates, “Wherever the art of Medicine is loved, there is also a love of Humanity.” Medicine indeed is an important subset of the modern Medical Science and involves a lot of complex research and terminologies.
The medicinal language bears its adaption from Greek and Latin. The broader is your vocabulary base, the more credible you will be to the rest of the medical community and better medical assistance you can provide to a patient . To fully understand the terminology , it is essential to break it down into 3 parts – prefix , suffix and the root word.
In the ensuing list , we seek to present some of the most important and commonly used medical terminologies for your perusal as it is a must to know these terms for having a functioning knowledge of the same.
Prefix
A prefix is the initial letters of a word and ostensibly refers to a location and severity. Prefixes are used in the the daily communications (i.e., inaction, automatic, misplace), as well as in medical and scientific parlance. Not every medical term has a prefix.
Suffix
Suffix are placed at the end of a word to give it a full meaning. In the medical context , a suffix generally signifies a disease , a procedure or a condition. One of the most commonly used terms in medicine is -itis , which typically means an ‘inflammation’ e.g: conjunctivitis , sinusitis , otitis media etc. When it is attached to arthro , which means joints , it collectively means an inflammation of joints.
Root Words
It is a word or part of a word that can work as the genesis of new words through the inclusion of prefixes and suffixes. If you can understand the meanings of common roots , it can help you find out the meanings of new words as you come across one. It is known to indicate the essential meaning of the word and historically represented a part of the human body. One such example to be cited is CPR , which stands for Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation. On dissecting this word , we get cardio which means ‘heart’ , pulmonary which means ‘lungs’. When air is filled into the lungs and the heart is pushed to circulate the blood to resuscitate the patient.
List of Medical Prefix
| Prefix | Meaning |
| ante- | refers to before or forward |
| anti- | refers to against or opposed to something |
| arteri(o)- | refers to artery |
| arthro- | that hints to a joint in human body |
| auto- | refers to self , regarding self |
| bi- | refers to two ,denoting two |
| bi(o)- | refers to life |
| blast(o)- | refers to a germ or cell |
| blephar(o)- | Denotes to an eyelid |
| brady- | refers to being slow |
| calc- | refers to stone ; and also heel(foot) |
| cardi(o)- | related to the heart |
| cephal(o)- | refers to the head |
| cerebr(o)- | signifies to the cerebrum, which is a part of the brain |
| cervic(o)- | refers to the neck (uterine cervix) of the body |
| chole- | referring to bile |
| chondr(o)- | denotes cartilage |
| circum- | refers to around |
| cost(o)- | refers to a rib |
| cyan(o)- | refers to blue colour |
| cyst(o)- | refers to bladder or fluid containing sac |
| inter- | represents between |
| cyt(o)- | denoting a cell |
| intra- | meaning within |
| de- | refers to down from |
| dermat(o)- | denotes the skin |
| di- | refers to twice or double |
| leuk(o)- | signifies something white or to leukocytes (white blood cells) |
| dia- | refers to through or completely |
| lith(o)- | denoting a stone |
| dys- | refers to painful or abnormal |
| macro- | signifying something large |
| mal- | refers to something bad or abnormal |
| electro- | refers to electricity or involving it |
| medi- | Meaning to be middle |
| end(o)- | signifies something within |
| mega- | referring to something large |
| enter(o)- | denoting to the intestines |
| melan- | which means black or dark |
| epi- | referring to upon |
| mening(o)- | signifies to a membrane (meninges) |
| erythr(o)- | referring to anything red like erythrocytes (Red Blood Cells) |
| micro- | denoting to small |
| eu- | signifying something easy or normal |
| mono- | denoting to one |
| ex(o)- | meaning to be outside |
| my(o)- | that which refers to muscle |
| gastr(o)- | signifying the stomach |
| nas(o)- | denoting the nose |
| glyc(o)- | meaning sugar (glycemia etc) |
| ne(o)- | refers to something new |
| gynec(o)- | denoting females or the female reproductive organs |
| nephr(o)- | signifying the kidney |
| hemat(o)- | denoting blood (also hem) |
| neur(o)- | referring to any nerve or the nervous system |
| hemi- | meaning half |
| noct- | signifying night |
| hepat(o)- | signifying the liver |
| heter- | meaning which is other or different |
| ophthalm(o)- | denoting the eye |
| hom- | meaning same or like (homeostasis) |
| hydr(o)- | referring to water |
| hyper- | meaning to be over, excessive |
| hypo- | meaning to be under or deficient |
| ortho- | something straight or upright |
| hyster(o)- | referring to the uterus |
| oste(o)- | denoting to the bone |
| infra- | meaning to be below |
| ot(o)- | representing the ear |
List of Medical Suffixes
| Suffix | Meaning |
| -algia | referring to pain in body |
| -asthen(o) | denoting to a weakness |
| -blast | referring to a not yet mature cell |
| -cele | signifying a tumor or swelling |
| -centesis | denoting a procedure in which an organ / body cavity is punctured, mostly to drain excess fluid or obtain a sample for testing |
| -cyte | meaning a cell |
| -ectomy | referring to a surgical removal of something |
| -emia | referring to presence of a substance in the blood |
| -genic | refers to causing / a genesis |
| -gram | signifying a record |
| -graph | refers to an instrument used to create the record |
| -itis | signifying an inflammation |
| -lysis | that which means a certain decline, that which means a certain decline, or destruction |
| -megaly | refers to an enlargement of something |
| -ology | meaning a science of |
| -oma | refers to a certain tumor |
| -osis | denoting to a certain disease process |
| -ostomy | surgical opening of any part , surgical opening of any part ,or hole |
| -otomy | meaning a surgical incision |
| -pathy | refers to a disease or a system for treating disease |
| -phagia | denoting to eating or swallowing function |
| -phasia | referring to speech or related to it |
| -rrhage | abnormal or excess flow or discharge |
| -sis | a process, action, or condition |
| -phobia | pertaining to an irrational fear |
| -rrhagia a | bnormal or excessive flow or discharge |
| -plasty | meaning a plastic surgery |
| -plegia | referring to a paralysis |
| -rrhea | referring to a flow or discharge |
| -uria | meaning a substance in the urine or the condition |
| -pnea | referring to breathing |
| -scope | an instrument for examination |
| -scopy | meaning examination with an instrument |
List of Medical Root Words
| Root Word | Meaning |
| acou- | referring to hear function |
| gest- | referring to carry, produce, congestion |
| adip- | referring to fat |
| carpus | signifying to the wrist |
| gno- | referring to know |
| alb- | signifying to white color |
| alges- | referring to pain |
| andr- | signifying to male gender |
| aqua- | referring to water asphyxia denoting lack of oxygen or excess of carbon dioxide in the body that results in unconsciousness |
| asthen- | referring to weak |
| audi- | denoting to hear |
| bronch- | referring to windpipe |
| bucc- | denoting to the cheek |
| carcin- | signifying to cancer |
| cent- | a fraction in metric system; one hundredth or 100 |
| cente- | refers to puncture (a body cavity) |
| cili- | signifying to eyelid |
| cleid(o)- | referring to clavicle cubitus referring to elbow |
| cycl- | denoting to a circle or cycle |
| digit | meaning a finger or toe |
| ede- | representing a swelling |
| -esthesi(o)- | referring to sensation or perception |
| febr- | signifying a fever |
| flex | signifying a bend foramen referring to an opening |
| fract- | denoting to a break |
| -gram | meaning something written or recorded |
| idi- | meaning to separate or make distinct |
| iod(o)- | signifying Iodine(a chemical) |
| lact- | referring to milk |
| lingu- | meaning tongue |
| men- | referring to month |
| ocul- | signifying the eye |
| ov- | referring to an egg |
| ped- | signifying a child or foot |
Conclusion:
These are some of the most commonly used medical terminologies which can act as a ready reckoner for those who wish to get a grasp on them. Using Mnemonics or flash cards can help in easy revision of the above besides daily practice.
