MEDICAL

TERMINOLIGY
NURS 223

MEDICAL TERMINOLIGY

It is possible to build an extensive

vocabulary of medical words by
learning a few basic elements which
can be combined in a variety of ways.
The foundation of a word is the word
root such as cardi, meaning
heart and gastr meaning
stomach

MEDICAL TERMINOLIGY

A word root is usually followed by a

vowel to simplify the pronunciation.
Thus cardi
becomes cardio and gastr
becomes gastro. The root word
plus the vowel is referred to as a
combining form

MEDICAL TERMINOLIGY

A prefix is a part of a word which

precedes the word root and changes
its meaning. For example, peri,
means around therefore.
Pericardium literally means
around the heart and refers to a
membranous sac which surrounds
the heart.

MEDICAL TERMINOLIGY

A suffix, or word ending, is the part

that follows the word root and adds
to or changes its meaning. For
example, itis means inflammation
of and when added to the root word
card becomes carditis or
inflammation of the heart

MEDICAL TERMINOLIGY

The combining vowel is dropped

when the suffix begins with a vowel.
However, combining vowels are
usually retained between two root
words even though the second root
word begins with a vowel. For
example gastroenteritis

MEDICAL TERMINOLIGY

Many medical words are compound

words that are made up of more
than one root word. By learning to
divide words into these basic
elements, and learning the meanings
of each element even the longest
and most complicated term is
simplified.

MEDICAL TERMINOLIGY

EG. Gastr /
o
/ enter/
Root / combining vowel / root /
suffix

itis

The root gastr means stomach; the root

enter means intestines; and the suffix itis
means inflammation. Thus the meaning of
gastroenteritis is inflammation of the
stomach and intestines.