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English Terminology
Second semester
Lecture: 1
By:
Ass. Lect. Hayman Sardar Abd.
B. Sc. Pharmacy
M.SC. Pharmaceutical Chemistry
• Medical terms are made of prefix, root, combining forms and
suffixes.
ELEMENTS OF MEDICAL TERMS
• Medical terms are made up of many different elements. The parts
of a word are as follows:
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WORD ROOT
A word root or root word is the main part of a word. It may be a
complete word or is a part of medical term.
For example: (the word root is in italics)
tendonitis, spasm, mastectomy ( ectomy = cutting out)
In spasm, the main part of the word is a complete word, whereas in
tendonitis, and mastectomy the main part of the word is a word
root.
Compound Words
• Compound words are made of two or more words. Some examples
of compound words are: newborn, headache.
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Combining Forms
The combining form makes the word easier to pronounce.
A combining form of a word root may be made by adding a vowel
to the word root.
The vowel o is most frequently used. The other vowels, a, e, i, and
u, are used less frequently.
Examples of the combining form: (The word root is in italic letters
and the combining vowel is in parenthesis).
bacteri(o)genic, glyc(o)hemia
• Other example: hyster/o (meaning uterus) to salping/o (meaning
fallopian tubes) along with the suffix -ectomy to form
hysterosalpingectomy, (meaning the removal of both the uterus
and the fallopian tubes). You will note that the combining vowel
"o" is dropped when adding the suffix -ectomy since two vowels
are not necessary.
• It must be noted that some vowels have a specific meaning and
thus cannot be dropped without changing the meaning of the word.
In this case the vowel is not a combining vowel but a word part.
• Example: hemi + opia = hemiopia (=absence of visual power in
one half of the retina).
• hemi means ''half." while hem, hemo means ''blood,''
• So, it is important to know the difference between a vowel that is a
combining vowel and a vowel that is a part of a root word.
• Combining forms are merely convenience forms and do not
influence the meaning of a root word.
• Prefix
• A prefix is a word part that is placed (fix) at the beginning or front
(pre) of another word or word part. A prefix may be a syllable, a
group of syllables, or a word. It is joined to the beginning of a
word to alter its meaning or to create a new word.
• Example:
• peri (around) + ocular (the eye) = periocular, which means ''around
the eye.˝
• ad (above) + renal (kidney) = adrenal meaning ''above the kidney.˝
• anti (against) + sepsis (infection) = antisepsis means against
infection.
• In some instances a prefix which is added to the beginning of a
word may end in one of several different consonants depending on
the consonants in the word parts that follow it.
• An example of this is the prefix in-, which means ˝without." The
consonant n changes to the same consonant in the root word:
• Illegal, Immeasurable, illogical.
• Suffix
• A suffix is a word part that is added (fix) to the end of a word or
word part. Examples:
• - neuro (nerve) + tripsy (crushing) = neurotripsy ˝crushing of the
nerve.˝
• - rhin (nose) + it is (inflammation) = rhinitis means inflammation
of the nose.
• - glycohemia: the root glyc- means sugar or sweet with the
combining vowel "o" glyc- becomes the combining form glyco-,
the root hem- means blood the suffix -ia means state or condition,
so glycohemia means sugar in the blood.
• - osteoarthritis. The combining form osteo comes from the root
oste, meaning bone; the root arthr means joint or joints; and the
suffix itis means inflammation. Therefore, the compound word
osteoarthritis means inflammation of the bone joints.
• - oto(ear) + rhino (nose) + laryngo (larynx) + logy(study of) =
otorhinolaryngology, meaning the study of ear, nose and larynx.
• - electro (electricity) + encephalo (brain) + graphy (record) =
electroencephalography, meaning the recording of the electrical
activity of brain.
• (note : en = in , cephalo = head , encephalo = brain)
• - pseudo (false) + hypo (under) + para (beside) + thyroid (thyroid
gland){both para + thyroid referred to parathyroid gland} + ism
(condition or state) = pseudohypoparathyroidism, meaning a
condition of false underactivity of the parathyroid gland.
• Pronunciation of medical terms
• - ch is sometimes pronounced like k. Examples: chromatin,
chronic.
• - ps is pronounced like s. Examples: psychiatry, psychology.
• - pn is pronounced with only n sound. Examples: pneumonia,
pneusis.
• - c & g are given the soft sound of s and j respectively, when
followed by e, i, and y. Examples: generic, giant, cycle,
cytoplasm.
• - ae and oe are pronounced ee. Examples: caesarian, amoeba.
• - i at the end of a word is pronounced eye (to form a plural).
Examples: alveoli, glomeruli.
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- Sounds like "si"
psy
- Sounds like "c"
cy
sy
si
psychiatry
cystitis
symptom
silicosis
• - Sounds like "dis"
• dys
• des
dyspnea
desmoid
• Plurals
• Rule
Example: Singular to Plural
• A word ending in -a will keep the -a and
vertebra to
vertebrae
add -e for the plural.
• A word ending in -ax, will drop the –ax
thorax to thoraces
and add -aces for the plural form.
• A word ending in -ex or -ix will drop these
letters and add -ices for the plural
appendix to appendices
form
• A word ending in -ma will
sarcoma to sarcomata
add -ta for the plural form.
adenoma to adenomata
• A word ending in -is will drop the –is
and add -es for the plural form
• A word ending in -on will drop the –on
and add -a for the plural form.
• A word ending in -us will drop the –us
and add -i for the plural form.
• A word ending in -um will drop the –um
add -a for the plural form.
• A word ending in -y will drop the –y
add -ies for the plural form.
• A word ending in -nx will change the x
to g and add -es.
metastasis to metastases
ganglion to ganglia
nucleus to nuclei
ovum to ova
and
biopsy to biopsies and
phalanx to phalanges
Thank you