Download Prefixes and Suffixes

Chapters 2 & 3
From now on you will see:
 all
WORD ROOTS highlighted in PURPLE
 all COMBINING VOWELS highlighted in RED
 all SUFFIXES highlighted in BLUE
 all PREFIXES highlighted in GREEN





To review, medical terms that are constructed
from parts may include:
Word Roots
Prefixes
Suffixes
One or more Combining Vowels (usually an
“o” or an “i”

Always attaches to the BEGINNING of a word
**IMPORTANT NOTE: The meaning of a
prefix always remains the same.
PREFIXES:
Prefixes express:
Numbers, measurements,
position, direction,
negatives, and color
Prefixes that express NUMBERS:
BiTriUniPrimiSemiTetraQuadriMilli-
6
Prefixes that express
MEASUREMENTS:
 Hyper Hyp/hypo Multi-
 Poly-
7
Prefixes that express POSITION or
DIRECTION
 Ab Ad Ambi-
 Ante Circum Endo-
8
Prefixes that express COLOR:
 albino Cyan chlor Erythr Leuk-
 Melan/o Cirrh/o-
9
Prefixes that express NEGATIVES:
 A An Ana Anti Contra Dis-

10
Suffix: an ending
 Always attaches to the END of a word
 Makes a word a noun or an adjective
**IMPORTANT NOTE: The meaning of a suffix
always remains the same.
Suffixes:
Suffixes usually make a
word a:
Noun or an adjective
Let’s look at more Noun Suffixes!
These suffixes make
words into Nouns:
-a
-er
-ist
-ism
Examples:
Cyanoderma
Radiographer
Psychologist
Albinism
Suffixes- Adjective endings
In medical terminology, suffixes are what change a word
to be an adjective (or a noun, as we saw earlier).
What follows next is a list of the most common
“Adjective Suffixes”
Suffixes
–
Adjective
endings
-ac
-al
-ar
-ic
-ical
-ile
-ory
-ous
-tic
All of these suffixes mean the same thing:
PERTAINING TO
Let’s see them used in examples:
-ac
-al
-ar
-ic
-ical
-ile
-ory
-ous
-tic
“cardiac” = pertaining to the heart
“duodenal” = pertaining to the duodenum
“ventricular” = pertaining to the ventricle
“thoracic” = pertaining to the thorax
“neurological” = pertaining to the nerves/brain
“febrile” = pertaining to fever
“auditory” = pertaining to hearing
“venous” = pertaining to veins
“cyanotic” = pertaining to blueness
Pronunciation Practice
Apnea
Hemiplegia
Intercostal
Intravenous
Primigravida
Anemia
Osteoblast
Epilepsy
Tonometry
Hemolytic
Autism
Arachnophobia
Lipoma
Lithotripsy
Colostomy
Dyspnea