This document provides an overview of medical terminology and introduces common word parts used to form medical terms, including root words, prefixes, and suffixes. It explains that most medical terms are composed of these basic word parts and understanding what they mean makes it easier to understand even complex terms. Tables listing examples of common root words, prefixes, and suffixes used in medical terminology are provided to familiarize students with these word parts. The document aims to help students learn the language of medicine.

1. 1
PNUR 113 – Module #1
The Language of Medicine

2. 2
Overview
 To many, medical talk is a strange,
incomprehensible language!
 However, the language used by medical
professionals allows them to communicate
clearly with one another
 This course has a great deal of unfamiliar
language and terms that you will need to learn in
order to be able to converse with other people in
your field
 With practice, you will develop a familiarity and
facility with the language of medicine.

3. 3
Overview, cont.
 This topic will Introduce word parts referred to as:
 Root Words
 Prefixes
 Suffixes
 Learning complex medical terms can be easier if
you know that they are usually a group of similar
component word parts — it also helps if you
understand the origin of these word parts
 Remember, repeated practice with these word
parts will help you to learn the language of
medicine!

4. 4
Learning Outcomes
 Upon successful completion of this module, you
will be able to:
Give the meaning of common root words,
prefixes and suffixes used in medical
terminology
Combine common suffixes and prefixes with
common root words to form a variety of
medical terms
Determine the meaning of medical terms by
examining their root words, prefixes and
suffixes

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Common Medicine-Related Root Words
Most medical terms are composed of simple parts like these
root words — and if you know what the parts mean, it's easier
to decipher even the most complicated terms!
Let's take a look at some common root words associated
with medical terminology.
You probably recognize some of these root words already:
 "Bi/o " - as in biology
 "Lip/o" - as in liposuction
 "Cardi/o" - as in cardiovascular

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Common Medicine-Related Root Words, cont.
Note that the “o” is a combining vowel used to
improve the flow of the word.
What Is Scleroderma?
If you look at the table or root words on the next
slide, you will see that:
 "scler/o" is hard
 "derma" refers to skin
Scleroderma is a disorder, caused by defective
collagen
 it gives a person very hard, scaly skin

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Table of Root Words
Angi/o vessel Gastr/o stomach My/o, Sarc/o muscle
Arteri/o artery Glyc/o, gluc/o sugar Nephr/o, ren/o kidney
Arthr/o joint Hemat/o, hem/o blood Neur/o nerve
Aut/o self Hepat/o liver Ocul/o eye
Bi/o life, living Hist/o tissue Os, oste/o bone
Carcin/o cancer Hyster/o uterus Ot/o ear
Cardi/o heart Hydr/o water Path/o Pathology,
disease
Chondr/o cartilage Leuk/o white Phag/o to eat
Derm/o,
dermat/o
skin Lingu/o tongue Pneum/o lung, air
Dur/o hard Lip/o fat Scler/o hard
Enter/o intestine Mening/o membrane Stat/o stand still
Erythr/o red Morph/o form Therm/o heat
Perform the Root Self-Test on Moodle as many times
as you like for practice

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Common Medicine-Related Prefixes
...
 Now that you are comfortable with medical root words,
let's review some prefixes.
 Prefixes are the beginnings of medical terms
 Some of these are commonly used and will be familiar to
you, while others are more specific to medical
terminology.
 Here Are Some Examples!
 “hyper-" - in "hyperactive" (excessively active)
 "anti-" - in words like "antifreeze" (against freezing)
 "extra-" - in words like "extraterrestrial" (outside or
beyond earth)

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Common Medicine-Related Prefixes, cont.
...
 See the table on the next slide, to review some prefixes
associated with medical terminology.
 Be sure to know the difference between the terms:
 "inter-" and "intra-"
 "ect-" and "end-"
 Also note that there can be more than one prefix with the
same meaning:
 Which prefixes mean within or inside?
 Which prefixes mean outside?
 Which prefixes mean together?
 Which prefixes mean before?

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Table of Prefixes
A-, An- lack of, without Extra- outside, beyond Mono- one
Ante- before Hemi- half Neo- new
Anti- against Heter/o- other Para- near, beyond,
beside
Bi- two, double Home/o-, same, steady Peri- around
Brady- slow Hyper- beyond,
excessive
Poly- many
Circum- around Hypo- below, deficient Pre-, pro- before
Co- , con- with, together Infra- below Pseud/o- false
Di- , dipl- two Inter- between Semi- half
Dys- Painful, bad,
difficult
Intra- within, inside Super-,
supra-
above
Ect/o- outer, outside Macr- large, giant Sym-, syn- with, together
End/o- within, inside Meta- middle Tachy- fast
Epi- upon Micr- small Trans- across, through
Perform the Prefix Self-Test on Moodle as many times
as you like for practice

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Common Medicine-Related Suffixes
...
 As well as having common beginnings (prefixes), many
medical words share common endings (suffixes):
 Some of these are found in non-medical English words,
while others are more specific to medicine
 Here Are Some Examples!
 You have probably heard of a physician (person
associated with the physical) or an appendectomy (to cut
out the appendix)
 you can link many of these suffixes to the root words you
learned earlier:
 "Hyster" + "ectomy" – hysterectomy (removal of the uterus)
 "Leuko" + "penia" – leukopenia (deficiency of white blood cells)

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Common Medicine-Related Suffixes, cont.
...
 The suffix “-itis" is added to many root words and
prefixes, as in:
 Dermatitis
 Arthritis
 Hepatitis
...meaning inflammation of the skin, joints or
liver respectively
 The table on the next slide lists common suffixes
associated with medical terminology.

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Table of Suffixes
-ac,-al, -ic pertaining to -mers parts
-algia painful condition -oma tumour
-asis, -osis condition or state of -ostomy create opening
-cyte cell -pathy disease
-ectomy to cut out, removal of -penia deficiency
-emia blood condition -plegia paralysis
-genic producing -pnea breath
-gram record, recording -poiesis making, forming
-ician person associated with -rrhage excessive flow
-itis inflammation of -stasis stand still, resting state
-logy, -ology science or study of -trophy relating to nutrition or growth
-lysis dissolving, separating -uria urine
Perform the Suffix Self-Test on Moodle as many times
as you like for practice

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Discussion – Word Challenge
 Create or find 5 medical terms that incorporate
the word parts you have learned in the module
 Post your 5 words along with their definitions to the
Forum: Discussion Module 1 - Word Challenge
 Return to this discussion later to see what your
classmates have posted
 Medical terms created from the roots, prefixes
and suffixes in this module will be tested on the
Final Exam in addition to Midterm 1
You can’t open the
quiz until you have
posted to this forum!