Basic Word Structure

Dr. Belal Hijji, RN, PhD

05.09.2010

Learning Objectives

At the end of this lecture, students will be able to:• Break down medical terms into component parts

Word Analysis

• Nurses in clinical settings use medical words every day.• Once a medical word is broken down into its component parts and

the meaning of each individual part is learnt, students can use that knowledge to understand many other new terms.

• For example, the term HEMATOLOGY is divided into three parts:– HEMAT/ O/ LOGY

root combining vowel suffix

(blood) (study of)

• When analysing a medical term, start from the end of the word, which is called the suffix. All medical terms have suffixes.

• Next look at the beginning of the term which is in our example above is HEMAT (word root). The root provides the essential meaning of the word.

• The third part is the combining vowel; it connect the root with the suffix.

• Finally, put together the meanings of the suffix and the root: HEMATOLOGY means study of blood.

Word Analysis- 2 roots

• Another example is ELECTROCARDIOGRAM (ECG):– ELECTR/ O / CARDI/ O/

GRAM

root 1 combining vowel root 2 combining vowelsuffix

(electricity) (heart) (record)

- Start with the suffix at the end of the word. The suffix, GRAM, means record.

- Look at the first root (ELECTR); it means electricity.- Look at the second root (CARDI); it means heart.- Read the meaning of the medical word from the suffix, back to

the first root and then the second. In this way, ELECTROCARDIOGRAM mean the record of electricity in the heart.

- As you see, there are two combining vowels in the above medical term.

- The combining vowel plus the root is called a combining form. Therefore, the combining forms are ELECTR/O and CARDI/O.