Building Medical Vocabulary

Combining Forms

• When a suffix beginning with a consonant is added to a root, a vowel (usually an o) is inserted between the root and the suffix to aid in pronunciation.

Roots

• roots are given with their most common combining vowels added after a slash and are referred to simply as roots, as in neur/o.

• A combining vowel usually is not used if the ending begins with a vowel.

• The root neur is combined with the suffix -itis, meaning “inflammation of,” in this way:

• neur + itis = neuritis (inflammation of a nerve)

Suffix

Suffix

• Suffix is a word ending that modifies a root. • May indicate that the word is a noun

or an adjective and often determines how the definition of the word will begin.

Examples

• myel/o, meaning “bone marrow,” the adjective ending –oid forms the word myeloid, which means “like or pertaining to bone marrow.”

• The ending –oma produces myeloma, which is a tumor of the bone marrow.

• Adding another root, gen, which represents genesis or origin, and the adjective ending –ous forms the word myelogenous, meaning “originating in bone marrow.”

-ic

-ic

-ous

-form

-oid

-ical

-ile

-al

-ical

Prefix

Prefix

• Prefix is a short word part added before a word or word root to modify its meaning.

• For example, the word lateral means “side.” Adding the prefix uni-, meaning “one,” forms unilateral, which means “affecting or involving one side.”

• Adding the prefix contra-, meaning “against or opposite,” forms contralateral, which refers to an opposite side.

141

Half2

DC

ABE

ANTI-A-DIS-

CONTRA-

1. per-

2. ad-

3. ab-

4. dia-

5. trans-

dceba

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