Chapter 1 Concepts of Medical Terminology
Medical terminology is based on what languages?
Based on Latin and Greek words
Muscle is Latin for ‘mouse’
Coccyx named for the cuckoo’s bill
Fundamental unit of each medical word
Establishes basic meaning of word
Part to which prefixes and suffixes are added
Root
Short word part or parts added to the end of a word
Modifies the meaning of the root
Indicated by a dash before (-itis)
Suffix
Short word part added before a root
Modifies the meaning of the root
Followed by a dash (pre-)
Prefix
Roots shown with a combining vowel are called?
Vowels added after a slash
Neur/o
Combining Forms
-logy = “study of”
Neur = “nerve or nervous system”
Neur/o
Neur + o + logy = neurology (study of the nervous system)
When you add a suffix to a word ending in x, the x is changed to a?
g or c
g = consonant before the x change to g
Ex. Pharynx (throat) becomes pharyngeal = pertaining to throat
c = vowel before the x change to c
Ex. thorax (chest) becomes thoracic = pertaining to chest
If there is a consonant before the x, the x is changed to a?
g
pharynx becomes pharyngeal
If a vowel comes before the x, the x is changed to a?
c
thorax becomes thoracotomy
When you add a suffix beginning with rh to a root, the r is?
doubled
Hem/o (blood) + -rhage (bursting forth) = hemorrhage (a bursting forth of blood)
abbreviation formed from first letter of each word in a phrase
Acronym =
ASAP = as soon as possible
FDA = Food and Drug Administration
A word that contains more than one root
Compound word
Vowels with no pronunciation marks get ______ pronunciation?
short
‘a’ as in hat
'e' as in get
'i' as in hit
'o' as in pot
Short line over vowel gives it ______ pronunciation?
long
‘ā’ as in say
‘ē’ as in pēte
‘ī’ as in kīte
‘ō’ as in tōne
indicated with capital letters
as in AK-sent
Accented syllable
Hard or soft?
racer
Soft c
(RĀ-ser)
Hard or soft?
candy
Hard c
(KAN-dē)
Hard or soft?
page
Soft g
written as j = (pāj)
Hard or soft?
grow
Hard g
(grō)
cervix
neck
®
right
cardi
heart
pulm
lung
-logy
“study of”
Neur
“nerve or nervous system”
Neur + o + logy
neurology
(study of the nervous system)
itis
inflammation
Neur + itis
neuritis (inflammation of a nerve)
Hem/o
blood
-rhage
bursting forth
Hem/o + -rhage
hemorrhage
a bursting forth of blood
gast/o
stomach