Chapter: 4 Basic Medical Terminologies

Objectives

After undergoing this module, you will be able to

•      Describe how medical terms are constituted
•      Explain the meaning of commonly used Medical Terms

Introduction

Before we go to commonly used medical terms, we will see how medical terms are constituted. There are three basic parts to a medical term: a word root (usually the middle of the word and its central meaning), a prefix (comes at the beginning and usually identifies some subdivision or part of the central meaning), and a suffix (comes at the end and modifies the central meaning as to what or who is interacting with it or what is happening to it). An example may make things clear. E.g. the medical term Myocarditis can be divided into three parts; Myo (prefix) which means muscle, card (root) which means heart and itis (suffix) which means inflammation.

If you change the prefix, or the suffix we can see the change of meaning.

Myocarditis           =    muscle layer of heart inflamed
Pericarditis            =    outer layer of heart inflamed
Endocarditis          =    inner layer of heart inflamed
Cardiologist           =    a physician specializing in the heart
Cardiomyopathy    =    damage to heart muscle layer
Cardiomegaly        =    enlargement of the heart