Medical terminology is built from Greek and Latin roots, prefixes, and suffixes that describe body parts, conditions, or procedures. Key components include prefixes for location/time (e.g., hyper-), roots for organs (e.g., cardio-), and suffixes for conditions (e.g., -itis for inflammation). Common terms include acute (sudden), chronic (long-term), benign (non-cancerous), and malignant (cancerous)
Guide to Common Medical Terminology
There are some helpful techniques you can use to increase your understanding of medical
terminology. Most medical terms contain at least one root, and they may also contain one or
more prefixes or suffixes. This handout will describe how word parts create meaning to provide
a strategy for decoding medical terminology and unfamiliar words in the English language.
You can navigate to specific sections of this handout by clicking the links below.
Word Parts: pg. 2
The Body’s Organization: pg. 3
The Integumentary System: pg. 4
The Skeletal System: pg. 5
The Muscular System: pg. 6
The Nervous System: pg. 7
The Endocrine System: pg. 8
The Cardiovascular System: pg. 9
The Lymphatic System and Immunity: pg. 10
The Respiratory System: pg. 11
The Digestive System: pg. 12
The Urinary System: pg. 13
The Reproductive System: pg. 14
Sense of Sight and Hearing: pg. 15
Additional Resources: pg. 16
Provided by Guide to Common Medical Terminology
The Academic Center for Excellence 1 December 2020
Word Parts
If all three word parts are present in medical terminology, they will be in the order of prefix
root word suffix. Look at the following example to understand the function of each word
part:
anti-bacteri-al
The prefix, or the letter or
The suffix, or the letter or
group of letters before the
The root word, or
group of letters after the
root word, is anti-, which
the word part that
root word, is -al, which
means “against” or
provides the basic
means “pertaining to.”
“opposed to.”
meaning of the
word, is bacteri,
which means
“bacteria.”
As you can see, even if you have never heard of the word “antibacterial,” the word parts
provide clues that it is something that protects against bacteria. Therefore, it can be helpful to
take into consideration the meaning of word parts, in addition to the context of the sentence or
paragraph that the word is in, to decipher an unfamiliar word’s meaning. Also, keep in mind
that while many medical terms contain all three word parts, others will contain varying
combinations such as root/suffix, prefix/root, prefix/suffix, etc. Some words will even contain
two roots, such as osteoarthritis (osteo = bone, arthr = joint). Now let’s look at some of the
most common roots, prefixes, and suffixes used in the different body systems.
Provided by Guide to Common Medical Terminology
The Academic Center for Excellence 2 December 2020
The Body’s Organization
The body is organized by cells, tissues, organs, and systems.
Word Part: Root
Meaning
anter/o
front, anterior
cerv/o
neck
chondr/o
cartilage
cyt/o
cell
dors/o
back
gastr/o
stomach
inguin/o
groin
my/o
muscle
myel/o
spinal cord
neur/o
nerve, neuron
poster/o
posterior, back
proxim/o
near
sarc
flesh
super/o
superior
Word Part: Prefix
Meaning
epi-
upon
hypo-
below or deficient
infra-
below
leio-
smooth
trans-
across
Word Part: Suffix
Meaning
-algia
pain
-cyte
cell
-edema
watery fluid in tissues
-ic
pertaining to
-ium
structure or tissue
-oid
resemblance to
-oma
tumor
Note: There are additional roots, prefixes, and suffixes that are not included within the tables
throughout this handout; however, the examples will demonstrate how the word parts can be
analyzed to determine the meaning of a word.
Example Terms:
epi
(
upon
)
+ gastr
(
stomach
)
+ ic
(
pertaining to
)
epigastric =
area just above the stomach
hypo
(
below
)
+ gastr
(
stomach
)
+ ic
(
pertaining to
)
hypogastric =
pertaining to below the stomach
Provided by Guide to Common Medical Terminology
The Academic Center for Excellence 3 December 2020
