I have worked in the medical profession for the last 13
years in cancer care and now in mental health.
I also just finished my bachelor’s in Health Information Management and
have had medical terminology up the wazoo.
Here’s a quick intro lesson on medical terminology 101. Medical terminology is based off Latin.
For example…..gastro- means stomach. –Entero means small intestines. –ologist means specialist. When combined, what may look like a really
long word is just simply several shorter latin based words put together. Gastroenterologist is a specialist (-ologist)
who studies the stomach (gastro), and small intestines (-entero). Another example – pulmo means lung. A pulmonologist is a physician who
specializes in treating the lungs. Once
you learn the prefixes, the medical world seems a lot less scary.
abdomin/o abdomen
ad- toward or in the direction
of
aden/o gland
-algia, -dynia pain and
suffering
ana- excessive
angi/o blood
vessel
ankyl- crooked, bent, or stiff
anter/o front or before
appendic/o appendix
arteri/o artery
arthr/o joint
ather/o plaque or fatty substance
burs/o bursa
carcin/o cancerous
cardi/o heart
caud/o tail or lower part of the
body
-centesis a surgical puncture to remove fluid
cephal/o head
chondr/o cartilage
-clasis to break
cost/o rib
crani/o skull
-crine to secrete
cyan/o blue
cyt/o cell
dermat/o skin
-desis surgical fixation of bone
or joint
dia- through, across
dors/o back of
the body
dys- bad, difficult, or painful
-ectomy surgical removal
endo- within
enter/o small intestine
epi- upon, above
erythr/o red
eti- cause
eu- good, normal, well, or easy
exo- out of
-gen producing
-gram a record writing
-graphy the process of recording
hepat/o liver
hist/o tissue
home/o same
So there are a ton more words we could go over, but let’s
take a few of these and combine them into words you already know. Hyster- means uterus. –ectomy means surgical removal. Hysterectomy means surgical removal of the
uterus. Appendic- means appendix. –ectomy means surgical removal. Appendictomy means surgical removal of the
appendix. Cardio- means heart. –Gram means a record writing. A cardiogram is just a recording of what your
heart is doing.
Here are some links to the most commonly used medical terms
and their definitions:
A quiz on medical terminology: http://www.funtrivia.com/playquiz/quiz4508452c228.html
What a great list of definitions
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