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- Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
- Kategorie: Fachliteratur
- Sprache: Englisch
Become fluent in the standardized language of all medical fields
Medical Terminology For Dummies is a resource for current and prospective healthcare professionals who need to understand medical terms, from common to complex. This book clearly explains how to quickly identify, pronounce, define, and apply medical terms in a healthcare setting. You'll also find ideas for creating mind maps and games to help you study and retain the language of medicine. Pair those study tools with an understanding of the history and origins of key prefixes, suffixes, and roots, and you'll be confident in no time. This updated guide covers the 2022 updates to ICD-10 codes, and it includes added terminology related to public health and infectious diseases. Whatever healthcare field you're in, this book will serve as your glossary of terms and a gateway to future learning opportunities.
- Understand prefixes, roots, and suffixes, so you can confidently work out the meanings of complex terms
- Practice defining medical terms and get help memorizing key vocabulary elements
- Enhance your professional expertise in any healthcare setting
- Improve the safety and accuracy of medical communications
All medical and healthcare related careers require some knowledge of medical terminology. Start off on the right foot—or brush up what you already know—with Medical Terminology For Dummies.
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Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2025
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Table of Contents
Cover
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright
Introduction
About This Book
Foolish Assumptions
Icons Used in This Book
Beyond the Book
Where to Go from Here
Part 1: Living for Linguistics
Chapter 1: Scrubbing In to Master Medical Terminology
The Tale behind the Terms
Making Terminology Work for You
Building a Foundation of Vocabulary
In Terms of Anatomy
All Systems Go
The Ultimate Resource: You
Chapter 2: Medical Terminology: The How and Why
Defining Medical Terminology
Medical Terminology in the Real World
Changes in Medical Terminology
It’s Greek and Latin to Me
Modernizing Medicine
Chapter 3: Introducing the Big Three: Prefixes, Roots, and Suffixes
Rooting Around for Answers
Prefixes: Starting with a Precursor
Suffixes: The Caboose of Terms
Chapter 4: Acronyms, Antonyms, Eponyms, Homonyms, Multiples, and Plurals — Oh My!
Acronyms
Antonyms
Eponyms
Homonyms
Deriving a Plural the Medical Way
Welcome to the Peanut Gallery: More Exceptions to the Plural Rules
Sneaky Sound-alikes
Chapter 5: Say What? Pronunciation and Usage
Hooked on Phonics
Pronouncing Common Prefixes and Beginning Sounds
Pronouncing Common Suffixes and Endings
Pronouncing Common Combinations
Putting It All Together
What Condition Your Condition Is In
Procedural Pronunciations
Taking a Shortcut
Practicing Your Pronunciation
Part 2: Mapping Words and Bodies
Chapter 6: As It Was in the Beginning: Prefixes
Common Prefixes
Matching Prefixes to Situations
Retro Root Rewind A–M
Retro Root Rewind N–Z
Chapter 7: So It Shall Be in the End: Suffixes
Common Suffixes
Matching Suffixes to Situations
Chapter 8: Hey, I Know You: Word Recognition
The Inside Story: Terms for Your Interior
Terms for the Outside of Your Body
Pathological Conditions
Chapter 9: Deconstruction Junction: Breaking Down Words
Finding Parts of Words
Going Deeper into Suffixes
Adding Up Individual Word Meanings
Chapter 10: An Org Chart to Live By: Organization of the Body
Looking at the Big Picture
Cells
Tissues
Organs and Systems
Cavities of the Body
Directional Terms and Anatomical Planes
Regions of the Body
Chapter 11: All Systems Go: When Systems Combine
Anatomical Systems Working Together
Physiological Systems Working Together
Chapter 12: Lockdown Life: The Terminology of Global Health Crises
Understanding the Anatomy of a Pandemic
Recognizing the Different Types of “Emic”
Common Health Crisis Terminology
Part 3: In Terms of Anatomy
Chapter 13: Boning Up on the Skeletal System
How the Skeletal System Works
Skeletal Root Words and Combining Forms
More Anatomical Terms
Common Skeletal Conditions
Finding the Culprit: Skeletal Diseases and Pathology
Testing, Testing: Skeletal Radiology and Diagnostic Tests
Paging Dr. Terminology: Skeletal Surgeries and Procedures
Chapter 14: Getting Ripped: The Muscular System
How the Muscular System Works
Muscular Roots and Suffixes
Action Item: The Movement of Your Muscles
Common Muscular Conditions
Finding the Culprit: Muscular Diseases and Pathology
Testing, Testing: Muscular Radiology and Diagnostic Tests
Paging Dr. Terminology: Muscular Surgeries and Procedures
It’s All Related: More Muscular Terms
Chapter 15: Skin Deep: Skin, Glands, Nails, and Hair
Layers of Skin
Glands: Sebaceous and Sudoriferous
Hair and Nails
Integumentary Root Words
Common Integumentary Conditions
Finding the Culprit: Integumentary Diseases and Pathology
Testing, Testing: Integumentary Radiology and Diagnostic Tests
Paging Dr. Terminology: Integumentary Surgeries and Procedures
More Integumentary Terms
Chapter 16: It Depends on Your Perception: The Sensory Systems
The Eye
The Ear
The Nose
The Mouth
The Touch Receptor
Sensory Root Words
It’s All Related: More Anatomical Terms
Common Sensory Conditions
Finding the Culprit: Sensory Diseases and Pathology
Testing, Testing: Sensory Radiology and Diagnostic Tests
Paging Dr. Terminology: Surgeries and Procedures
Terminology RX: Sensory Pharmacology
Part 4: Let’s Get Some Physiology Terminology
Chapter 17: The Heart of the Matter: The Cardiovascular and Lymphatic Systems
How the Cardiovascular System Works
How the Lymphatic System Works
Cardiovascular and Lymphatic Root Words
Common Cardiovascular and Lymphatic Conditions
Finding the Culprit: Cardiovascular and Lymphatic Diseases and Pathology
Testing, Testing: Cardiovascular and Lymphatic Radiology and Diagnostic Tests
Paging Dr. Terminology: Cardiovascular and Lymphatic Surgeries and Procedures
Terminology RX: Cardiovascular and Lymphatic Pharmacology
Chapter 18: Just Breathe: The Respiratory System
How the Respiratory System Works
Respiratory Root Words
It’s All Related: More Anatomical Terms
Common Respiratory Conditions
Finding the Culprit: Respiratory Diseases and Pathology
Testing, Testing: Respiratory Radiology and Diagnostic Tests
Paging Dr. Terminology: Respiratory Surgeries and Procedures
Terminology RX: Respiratory Pharmacology
Chapter 19: Feeding Time: The Gastrointestinal System
How the Gastrointestinal System Works
Gastrointestinal Root Words
Common Gastrointestinal Conditions
Finding the Culprit: Gastrointestinal Diseases and Pathology
Testing, Testing: Gastrointestinal Radiology and Diagnostic Tests
Gastrointestinal Surgeries and Procedures
Terminology RX: Gastrointestinal Pharmacology
Chapter 20: Gatekeepers of Health: The Endocrine System
How the Endocrine System Works
Endocrine Root Words
It’s All Related: More Endocrine Anatomical Terms
Common Endocrine Conditions
Finding the Culprit: Endocrine Diseases and Pathology
Testing, Testing: Endocrine Radiology and Diagnostic Tests
Paging Dr. Terminology: Endocrine Surgeries and Procedures
Terminology RX: Endocrine Pharmacology
Chapter 21: Calming Down: The Nervous System
How the Nervous System Works
The Central Nervous System
Peripheral Nervous System
Nervous Root Words
It’s All Related: More Nerve-Wracking Terms
Common Nervous Conditions
Finding the Culprit: Nervous Diseases and Pathology
Testing, Testing: Nervous Radiology and Diagnostic Tests
Paging Dr. Terminology: Nervous Surgeries and Procedures
Terminology RX: Nervous Pharmacology
Part 5: Name That Plumbing
Chapter 22: When You Gotta Go: The Urinary System
How the Urinary System Works
Urinary Root Words
Common Urinary Conditions
Finding the Culprit: Urinary Diseases and Pathology
Testing, Testing: Urinary Radiology and Diagnostic Tests
Paging Dr. Terminology: Urinary Surgeries and Procedures
Terminology RX: Urinary Pharmacology
Chapter 23: Check the Plumbing: The Male Reproductive System
How the Male Reproductive System Works
Male Reproductive Root Words
Pathological Male Reproductive Conditions
Finding the Culprit: Male Reproductive Diseases and Pathology
Testing, Testing: Male Reproductive Radiology and Diagnostic Tests
Paging Dr. Terminology: Male Reproductive Surgeries and Procedures
Terminology RX: Male Reproductive Pharmacology
Say What? Male Terminology Tongue Twisters
Chapter 24: A Life Force: The Female Reproductive System
How the Female Reproductive System Works
Female Reproductive Root Words
It’s All Related: More Female Reproductive Anatomical Terms
Common Female Reproductive Conditions
Finding the Culprit: Female Reproductive Diseases and Pathology
Testing, Testing: Female Reproductive Radiology and Diagnostic Tests
Paging Dr. Terminology: Female Reproductive Surgeries and Procedures
Terminology RX: Female Reproductive Pharmacology
Part 6: The Part of Tens
Chapter 25: Ten Essential Medical Terminology References
Medterms.com
Medilexicon.com
webMD.com
Dorland's Illustrated Medical Dictionary, 33rd Edition
Mosby’s Medical Dictionary, 11th Edition
Stedman’s Medical Dictionary and Flashcards for Health Professionals and Nursing Illustrated, 7th Edition
Taber’s Cyclopedic Medical Dictionary, 24th Edition
Sloane’s Medical Word Book, 5th Edition
Medicalmnemonics.com
Medical Terminology Systems Quick Study Guide
Chapter 26: Ten or So Useful Mnemonic Devices
Cranial Nerves
Lung Lobe Numbers
The Size of a Thyroid
Scalp Layers
Muscles of the Rotator Cuff
Radial Nerve
Face Nerves
Perineal versus Peroneal
Sperm Path through Male Reproductive Tract
Carpal Bone Locations
Cranial Bones
Index
About the Authors
Connect with Dummies
End User License Agreement
List of Tables
Chapter 3
TABLE 3-1 Your Fabulous Facade: Exterior Root Words
TABLE 3-2 Beautiful on the Inside: Interior Root Words
TABLE 3-3 Preview of Important Prefixes
TABLE 3-4 Summarizing Important Suffixes
Chapter 4
TABLE 4-1 Medical Antonyms
TABLE 4-2 Medical Homonyms
TABLE 4-3 Troublesome Sound-alikes
Chapter 6
TABLE 6-1 Recapping Root Words (A–M)
TABLE 6-2 Recapping Root Words (N–Z)
Chapter 7
TABLE 7-1 Suffixes: Wrapping It Up
Chapter 8
TABLE 8-1 Interior Affairs
TABLE 8-2 Out of Bounds: External Terminology
TABLE 8-3 Quick Glance: Pathology
Chapter 10
TABLE 10-1 Roots of Structures
TABLE 10-2 Structural Suffixes
TABLE 10-3 Directional Roots
TABLE 10-4 Small But Mighty Body Regions
Chapter 13
TABLE 13-1 Digging Up Your Skeletal Roots
TABLE 13-2 Bone-Related Combining Forms
TABLE 13-3 Joint-Related Combining Forms
TABLE 13-4 More Common Skeletal Vocabulary
Chapter 14
TABLE 14-1 Breaking Down Your Muscular Roots
TABLE 14-2 Muscular Suffixes
TABLE 14-3 Common Muscular Vocabulary
Chapter 15
TABLE 15-1 Skin Color Root Words
TABLE 15-2 Breaking Down Your Integumentary Roots
TABLE 15-3 Common Integumentary Prefixes and Suffixes
TABLE 15-4 Common Integumentary Vocabulary
Chapter 16
TABLE 16-1 Forms of Taste, Smell, and Touch
TABLE 16-2 Visual Roots
TABLE 16-3 Visual Prefix and Suffixes
TABLE 16-4 Listening to Your Roots
TABLE 16-5 Hearing Suffixes
TABLE 16-6 Sight Words, Literally
TABLE 16-7 An Earful of Vocabulary
Chapter 17
TABLE 17-1 Breaking Down Your Cardio Words
TABLE 17-2 Breaking Down Your Lymphatic Roots
TABLE 17-3 Cardiovascular and Lymphatic Vocabulary Words
Chapter 18
TABLE 18-1 Start Your Engine with Prefixes
TABLE 18-2 Exhale with Respiratory Suffixes
TABLE 18-3 Breaking Down Your Respiratory Roots
TABLE 18-4 A Mixed Bag of Respiratory Vocabulary
Chapter 19
TABLE 19-1 Food In, Food Out: Gastro Prefixes and Suffixes
TABLE 19-2 The Meaty Part: Gastrointestinal Root Words
Chapter 20
TABLE 20-1 Coming and Going: Endocrine Prefixes and Suffixes
TABLE 20-2 Maintaining Balance: Endocrine Root Words
Chapter 21
TABLE 21-1 Relax with Nervous Prefixes and Suffixes
TABLE 21-2 Nerve-Wracking Root Words
Chapter 22
TABLE 22-1 Starting and Stopping the Flow: Urinary Prefixes and Suffixes
TABLE 22-2 To Pee or Not to Pee: Urinary Root Words
Chapter 23
TABLE 23-1 Making Word Babies: Male Reproductive Prefixes and Suffixes
TABLE 23-2 Life Force: Male Reproductive System Root Words
Chapter 24
TABLE 24-1 Half of the Puzzle: Female Reproductive Prefixes and Suffixes
TABLE 24-2 Life-Giving Roots of the Female Reproductive System
List of Illustrations
Chapter 10
FIGURE 10-1: Anatomical positions and regions of the body.
FIGURE 10-2: Planes of the body.
FIGURE 10-3: The body’s cavities.
Chapter 12
FIGURE 12-1: The makeup of a COVID-19 cell.
FIGURE 12-2: How COVID is transmitted.
FIGURE 12-3: The differences between an epidemic, pandemic, and endemic.
Chapter 13
FIGURE 13-1: Front view of the skeleton showing rib cage, clavicles, upper and ...
Chapter 14
FIGURE 14-1: Structure of a skeletal muscle.
FIGURE 14-2: Posterior view of the neck and shoulder muscles.
FIGURE 14-3: Anterior muscles of the chest and abdomen.
FIGURE 14-4: The muscles of the upper limb, anterior (A) and poster...
FIGURE 14-5: The muscles of the lower limb.
Chapter 15
FIGURE 15-1: Cross section of the skin showing layers and some specialized stru...
Chapter 16
FIGURE 16-1: Internal structures of the eye.
FIGURE 16-2: Anatomy of the ear.
Chapter 17
FIGURE 17-1: Anterior view of the heart.
FIGURE 17-2: Artery, vein, and capillary exchange.
FIGURE 17-3: Anatomy of a lymph node, cross section.
Chapter 18
FIGURE 18-1: Anatomic structures of the respiratory system.
Chapter 19
FIGURE 19-1: The organs of the digestive system.
Chapter 20
FIGURE 20-1: The endocrine system.
Chapter 21
FIGURE 21-1: The nervous system.
Chapter 22
FIGURE 22-1: The urinary system.
Chapter 23
FIGURE 23-1: The male reproductive anatomy.
Chapter 24
FIGURE 24-1: The female reproductive system.
FIGURE 24-2: The menstrual cycle.
Guide
Cover
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright
Begin Reading
Index
About the Authors
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Medical Terminology For Dummies®, 4th Edition
Published by: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774, www.wiley.com
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Library of Congress Control Number: 2025938533
ISBN 978-1-394-34809-1 (pbk); ISBN 978-1-394-34811-4 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-394-34810-7 (ebk)
Introduction
Welcome to Medical Terminology For Dummies! Consider this your personal, private course in the study of the medical terms used every day in doctors’ offices, hospitals, clinics, billing and insurance companies, labs, and even pharmacies. This is a grand tour through not only the world of medical terminology, but also through your own body.
You’ll find as you read this book that learning medical terms is a two-part proposition. First, you’ve got to master the landscape of language itself. Don’t worry, though — there will be no quiz. We just want you to better understand how to both create and break down words. Once you get to know more about prefixes, suffixes, and root words, you can do darn near anything with the terminology. For example, you can go inside the body to discover the terms that match up with different systems, diseases, procedures, and pharmaceutical products.
Mastering medical terminology involves more than just memorizing. Exploring these terms and how they can be created will not only unlock medical mysteries for you, but great opportunities as well.
About This Book
Getting to know the world of medical terminology can get a bit repetitive at times. That’s why we decided to break the book down into several parts about all kinds of different things. You start by getting the back story of terminology — the history and the players involved with bringing this “language” to the masses. Then you get into the nitty-gritty of how words are formed and all about word parts, usage, pronunciation, and recognition. We’ve also included a new chapter in this edition about the terminology associated with global health emergencies such as pandemics, reflecting the continuing influence of the COVID-19 era on healthcare. Finally, you take a gander at all the different body systems and the words associated with them. We even throw in some bonus top ten lists at the end that we hope you find useful.
There’s a lot to learn about medical terminology, we admit, but we’ll be right there with you for the whole wild, crazy ride. Keep in mind that you don’t have to read this book cover to cover, nor do you have to remember all the details from chapter to chapter. Read out of order; skip what you don’t need. It will all be there for you should you choose to revisit the sections, tips, or sidebars at another time.
Keep in mind that this is not a giant textbook of terms, nor is it a dictionary. Those are both great resources, and we recommend that you pick up both if you are a medical professional. This is a friendly take on the topic, and our main goal is to show you the basics of how these words are made so that you can go out in the big, bad world and master the creation and use of medical terms in your own way. We’re not giving you a fish; we’re teaching you to fish.
We do rely on some conventions within this book that you may not see elsewhere, in an attempt to keep the tone fun and conversational. So please be prepared to see:
Chapters about language and medical terminology’s place in it. You will notice that we also make extensive use of lists in this book. We do this for your sanity. Be honest: Wouldn’t you rather be able to study these terms in organized, easy-to-find lists and tables rather than picking through long, boring paragraphs trying to find the words you need to know? We thought so.
Tables that provide insight into the construction of medical terms. Many of these are shown in various forms with the use of “/”. In these cases, the root word appears before the “/” and is then followed by the combining vowel or other combining sound. For example, if you see
crani/o,
it indicates that
crani
is the root word and
o
is the combining vowel.
New terms in
italics
to make them easier to spot.
Major chapters divided by systems of the body. Each system chapter tells you a bit about how that particular body system works, to give you some context for its words.
Artistic renderings in many of the body system chapters. Don’t be alarmed by those little pictures you see peppering the pages of this book. Feel free to be distracted, however — that’s the point. We want you to stop and look at these great kernels of knowledge as you read through the book.
Simple language. We aren’t doctors, so we try our best to explain things using simple language. That means you may see words like
pee
and
poo
from time to time. We figure you’re knee-deep in official-sounding terms here, so it doesn’t hurt to lighten up once in a while.
Foolish Assumptions
We are assuming you fall into one of these categories:
A medical student hoping to get a jump-start on general terminology before that first big quiz.
A medical professional looking to brush up on terms if you’re a bit out of practice or just want to know more about how these terms are made.
A curious adult interested in speaking your health professional’s language and learning more about the terms that describe how your body functions.
No matter what possessed you to pick up this book, we hope it gives you the terminology boost you need for your particular circumstances. The human body has hundreds and hundreds of working parts, and they all have names. Moreover, there are names for all kinds of associated terms relating to functions, conditions, diseases, pathology, and even pharmacology. It’s a whole lot, we grant you. But you are eager, right? And no number of 50-cent words frightens you away from your goal: to become a medical terminology Zen master. You can do it!
Icons Used in This Book
This book makes extensive use of icons — those little pictures that denote an important tidbit of information. Be on the lookout for these, as they provide even more tools for your terminology toolbox:
Points out concrete tips and tricks that you can put to use as you are studying medical terminology.
Highlights passages that are good to keep in mind when mastering medical terminology.
Alerts you to common mistakes that can trip you up in your medical terminology studies.
This icon indicates something cool and perhaps a little offbeat from the discussion at hand.
Beyond the Book
In addition to the material in the book you’re reading right now, this product also comes with some access-anywhere goodies on the web. No matter how hard you study for your medical terminology exams, you’ll likely come across a few questions for which you don’t have a clue. To check out the free Cheat Sheet, go to www.dummies.com and type “Medical Terminology For Dummies Cheat Sheet” in the search box. The Cheat Sheet gives you more helpful information about the body’s systems, medical terminology root words, Greek origins, and commonly misspelled terms. In addition, we provide you with some great online bonus content; you can explore this by visiting www.dummies.com/go/medicalterminologyfd4e.
Where to Go from Here
By all means, if you’re feeling spunky you can jump right into this book at any point and start working on your terminology savvy. Mastering the how and why of medical terms is sometimes as important as learning the terms themselves, which is why we put those chapters first. But by all means, feel free to hunt and peck the sections that are most useful to you.
Be bold. Be brave. And, most importantly, proceed through this book with confidence. Once you get the hang of how these words are made, you’ll have no problem committing them to memory and to your daily life.
Part 1
Living for Linguistics
IN THIS PART …
Gain an overview of the basic building blocks of learning terminology.
Discover a background dossier on terminology and its history.
Understand root words, prefixes, and suffixes.
Journey through the world of multiples and plurals.
Acquire tips and tricks on pronunciation and usage.
Chapter 1
Scrubbing In to Master Medical Terminology
IN THIS CHAPTER
Getting to know the history of medical terminology
Mastering the basics of word building and pronunciation
Familiarizing yourself with basic parts of your anatomy
Discovering the wide range of systems in the body
Did you realize that when you picked up this book, you were beginning a journey into a whole new language? Don’t worry — you haven’t grabbed Greek For Dummies by mistake — it’s all English, or at least “English.” But once you get deep into the world of medical terms, you will find that it is a whole new way of speaking. Your journey will indeed take you to ancient Greece as well as to Rome. You will meet some of the pioneers of the medical world. You will gain entrance into a whole new world: the body.
The Tale behind the Terms
Medical terminology is made up of the terms that describe human anatomy and physiology (body organs, systems, and their functions), body locations, diseases, diagnostic imaging, and laboratory testing, together with clinical procedures, surgeries, and diagnoses.
It’s important for every one of these things to have a specific name — just as it’s important that you have your own unique name — because otherwise how would medical professionals be able to communicate clearly with one another? You may be able to visit your doctor and say, “I have a pain in my shoulder,” and have them solve the mystery of what is causing that pain. But when your doc communicates that information to, say, a surgeon, it’s crucial to be more specific.
The beauty of medical terminology is that it makes such vital communication more succinct and to the point. A medical term usually describes in one word a disease or condition that, under normal circumstances, would take several words to describe. Appendectomy is a one-word medical term to describe “surgical removal of the appendix.” Now that saves you plenty of breath for more important things, like singing in the car or rooting for your favorite sports team.
The foundation of medical terminology is based in both Greek and Latin origins. The Greeks were the founders of modern medicine, but Latin is the basic source of medical terms. With origins in ancient Rome, Latin quickly made its way through the world, solidifying its rep as the language of choice for medicine and science. Building on guidance from the Greek and Latin origins, medical terms began to be professionalized in the mid-1800s. The first medical dictionary appeared in the 1830s shortly after the first edition of Webster’s American Dictionary of the English Language.
Making Terminology Work for You
Thankfully, there are ways to wade through the quagmire of medical terms and figure out how to pronounce and use them like a champ. But you have to start at the beginning by breaking down the parts of each word and then deciphering its meaning. Or, to put it in a fancy-schmancy way, you should use etymology. Etymology helps you find the origin and historical development of a term. You can use etymology to decipher words with Latin and Greek origins, eponyms (words named after people), and acronyms (modern language terms that stand for longer phrases).
Back to those word parts that you’ll break down. There are three you need to know: roots/combining forms, prefixes, and suffixes. Roots are the glue that holds all medical terms together. They are the basic form around which the final word is formed. A combining form is a combining vowel (usually o or i) plus the root word, usually with a prefix or suffix added. Prefixes appear at the beginning of a word and tell the how, why, where, when, how much, how many, position, direction, time, or status. The suffix, always at the end of a word, usually indicates a procedure, a condition, or a disease. Although the prefix gives you a clue into what to expect in a word’s meaning, the suffix tells you what is happening with a specific body part or system. And, usually, it either entails what is wrong with you or the procedure used to diagnose or fix it.
The breaking down of words that you find in this book also helps you with pronunciation. With medical terminology, sounds are not always pronounced the same as in English, and there are no steadfast rules that a combination of specific letters will always be pronounced in the same way.
Building a Foundation of Vocabulary
Getting the basics of word formation and pronunciation down pat is the hard part. Once you can do that, you can move on to building your word vocabulary. Even though medical professionals like to joke that terminology is like a foreign language (sometimes, yes), don’t throw this book out the window just yet. The good news is that you probably already know a lot of medical terms and you can use those to build up the rest of your newfound vocabulary.
Remember your grade school days when you used all kinds of little tricks to remember things like multiplication tables and the state capitals? The same principle applies to new medical terms. You can make lists of word parts, list words by similar sound, map words, or memorize terms by body system. And those are just a few ideas. Do whatever works for you, even if it’s singing terms to the tune of “Defying Gravity” in the shower. We promise not to tell.
In Terms of Anatomy
For your purposes in the land of medical terms, you can compare anatomy to the infrastructure of a building. The walls, floors, bricks, plaster, electrical system, plumbing, and so forth all help keep the building working for the people who inhabit it. Your body’s anatomy is no different, which is why you are going to read about these particular terms first. Once you get the basics of what holds your body together, you can go on to find out about the physiological systems that make your body react to both internal and external circumstances.
First on your anatomy checklist is the skeletal system. This is your body’s frame, much like the frame of a building. This system, along with its joints, works together with the muscles to give you the support and movement you need every day. The bony skeleton provides the jointed framework for the body, giving it shape, protecting vital organs from external injury, and providing attachment points for muscles, ligaments, and tendons.
Working together with the skeleton is the muscular system, in which several different major muscle groups work together. Made up of over 600 muscles and joints, this system is responsible for movement.
Covering all this infrastructure is the integumentary system. Your skin, glands, nails, and hair work like the facade, or outside covering, of a building. They are the things people see when they look at you. The outside of your “building” often shows the world how healthy the rest of your body is. Healthy skin, along with accessory organs, glands, hair, and nails, are the hallmarks of healthy insides, so care for them accordingly.
Your sensory system is all the fun stuff in your building. The windows, amenities, sound system, and dining facility all bring aesthetic delight to the building’s inhabitants, and your senses work in a similar fashion.
It may be hard to imagine that words can describe all the amazing things your anatomy can do, but believe us when we say that it’s all possible through terminology. And who knows? Perhaps there’s a word out there that hasn’t been created yet — until you came along.
All Systems Go
Once you get those basic working parts ingrained in your brain, you will move on to the physiology terminology. Physiology deals with the remaining body systems that help your fabulous body do its day-to-day work.
First up is the thing that keeps your blood pumping and your life moving forward each day: your heart. More specifically, the cardiovascular system. Your heart does not work in a vacuum. It has supporting players, namely your blood cells and vessels. These parts all work together to supply your body with fresh, clean, oxygenated blood.
Then there is the separate but complementary lymphatic system that works to flush your body of impurities. Most directly associated with immunity, the lymphatic system works in the same context as the cardiovascular system due to the similar makeup of the system and the fact that, once cleaned by the lymph nodes, lymphatic fluid is released directly into the bloodstream. Lymph vessels are arranged in a similar pattern as the blood vessels.
Speaking of oxygenating your blood, think about how that oxygen finds its way into your body. You may not consciously think about it every day, but breathing makes it all possible. The body’s trillions of cells need oxygen and must get rid of carbon monoxide, and this exchange of gases is accomplished by the respiratory system. External respiration is the repetitive, unconscious exchange of air between the lungs and the external environment.
You have to breathe, but you also have to eat, and eating is way more fun. Your good buddy the gastrointestinal system helps turn those tasty meals and treats into usable energy for your body. Also called the alimentary or digestive tract, this system provides a tubelike passage through a maze of organs and body cavities, beginning at the mouth, the food entrance into the body, and ending at the anus, where solid waste material exits the body and your delicious Chinese takeout magically turns into … well, you know.
Moving on, the complicated endocrine system maintains the chemical balance of the body. It does this by sending chemical messengers called hormones throughout the body via the bloodstream. Hormones regulate and control activity of specific cells or organs. Slowly released hormones control organs from a distance. Endocrine glands are located in different parts of the body. They are said to be ductless, because they have no duct system to transport their secretions. Instead, hormones are released directly into the bloodstream to regulate a variety of functions of body organs. One can stimulate growth, another matures sex organs, and yet another controls metabolism. Your body has both central and peripheral glands.
Even more complicated (are we having fun yet?) is the nervous system. Working like the body’s built-in computer system, it is far more complex than your laptop. Messages from the brain are relayed via the spinal cord through nerve fibers that provide connections for incoming and outgoing data. The body has more than ten billion nerve cells whose function is to coordinate activities of the body. This system controls our voluntary activities as well as involuntary activities. We speak, hear, taste, see, think, move muscles, and have glands that secrete hormones. We respond to pain, danger, temperature, and touch. We have memory, association, and discrimination. These functions are only a small part of what the nervous system controls.
The nervous system is made up of the central nervous system (CNS), which includes the brain and spinal cord. The peripheral nervous system (PNS) is composed of cranial nerves (that extend from the brain) and spinal nerves (that extend from the spinal cord). The autonomic nervous system (ANS) controls and coordinates the functions of the body’s vital organs, such as heartbeat and rate of breathing — functions you don’t even think about.
Speaking of things you don’t usually think about, the urinary system is made up of the kidneys (two), ureters (also two), bladder, and urethra. This system’s main function is to remove urea (the nitrogenous waste products of metabolism) from the bloodstream, and excrete it in urine from the body. Finally, there is the reproductive system. Think about how you were made (see Sex For Dummies if you don’t get our drift here). The male reproductive system has two main functions: to produce spermatozoa, the male reproductive cell, and to secrete testosterone, the male hormone. The female reproductive system produces the female reproductive cell, or sex cell, secretes the hormones estrogen and progesterone, and provides the conditions to establish a pregnancy, together with providing a safe place for the pregnancy to develop and grow. Reproduction is achieved by the union of the female reproductive cell, an ovum, and the male reproductive cell, a spermatozoon (sperm for short), resulting in fertilization.
This is just a quick glance at the kinds of stuff you’re going to learn about your body. Of course, the appropriate terms are discussed in detail along with the simple biology background.
The Ultimate Resource: You
A listing of well-known term references, recall devices, and word-building activities will help you apply terminology to your own personal real-world situation. The references mentioned in this book are some of the most well respected in the field, and ones we highly recommend. Of course, there are thousands of online and print resources, most of which are decent, if not downright reputable. Use your own good judgment when it comes to choosing one as your go-to source.
As you go on this journey, remember that ultimately you are your own best source of tips and tricks. Maybe you’re a flashcard aficionado. Perhaps you do best when you can visualize the term with the appropriate body system. Does your smartphone rule your world? Then you know there’s an app (or two, or ten) for learning medical terms on the fly. Or maybe you like a good old pneumonic device like “i before e except after c.” No matter how you choose to learn and recall these terms, do what is most comfortable and useful for you. You’re the captain of this ship. Now, hoist the sail!
Chapter 2
Medical Terminology: The How and Why
IN THIS CHAPTER
Getting an understanding of what medical terminology is
Finding out how medical terms are used in the real world
Tracking the evolution of terminology
Exploring Greek and Latin roots
Repeat after us: Context is a good thing. You love context. Mmmmm, context. It is a good idea to get to know something about your subject matter before you dive headfirst into studying it. This is particularly true with medical terminology because so much of the theory and history behind this topic shows up in the actual words and terms you will use every day.
Defining Medical Terminology
First, what is medical terminology? It’s a whole lot more than just medical words and phrases. Each word and each term is organic, meaning you can trace each part of the word back to a specific meaning. Cobbled together, these parts make up the meaning of the word. Medical terminology is made up of terms that describe human anatomy and physiology (body organs, systems, and their functions), body locations, diseases, and diagnostic imaging and laboratory testing, together with clinical procedures, surgeries, diagnoses, and pharmacology.
A medical term usually describes in one word a disease or condition that, under normal circumstances, would take several words to describe.
For example, consider two terms commonly known to most people. Tonsillitis is a one-word medical term to describe “inflammation of the tonsils,” and adenoidectomy is a one-word medical term to describe “surgical removal of the adenoids.”
It’s much easier to use one word than a long, drawn-out phrase to describe these conditions, don’t you think?
Medical Terminology in the Real World
The need or desire to learn medical terminology is not limited to healthcare professionals. For example, a firefighter has to relay information to paramedics, such as the condition of a burn victim being placed in an ambulance. A police officer must complete a written report after delivering a baby in the back seat of a car. Or closer to home, think about trying to understand when a doctor tells you that your child needs surgery, or why an aging parent needs to be placed in a long-term care facility. Medical terminology allows you to convey the greatest quantity of information, with the least confusion and most precision, to anyone in the world. For example, saying someone has a badly broken wrist doesn’t convey as much as saying someone has a Salter-Harris II fracture of the right distal radius with moderate lateral displacement and 28 degrees of anterior angulation. Now who’s the coolest kid in the clinic?
In theory and practice
You don’t need prior knowledge of Greek and Latin or anatomy and physiology to build a medical vocabulary. But you do need to master the fundamentals, or the ABCs, so to speak, to be comfortable and confident with medical terminology. After you master what makes up a word, it will get easier and easier to swap out those parts to make and understand new terms on the fly.
You accomplish this by breaking down each word and identifying its parts (prefix, suffix, and root). A basic knowledge of human anatomy helps, but it’s more important to know how each body system works independently and together with other systems. Knowing that helps the puzzle pieces fit into place more easily. As you’ll read later, the root word is the primary building block for a medical term: It clues you in to the primary body part or system that the word is about. Then the prefix and suffix clue you in to what is happening with that part or system, whether it’s a condition, disease, procedure, diagnostic, or pharmacological term.
Mastering medical terms is much easier than you think. It is certainly easier than acquiring a whole new language from scratch. New terms become easier once you know the reasoning behind most medical terms. Many terms are made up of interchangeable parts, used over and over again, in different combinations. Once you understand this, you will be well on your way to translating even the toughest medical terms — including terms you have never heard or seen before.
As you begin to familiarize yourself with roots, prefixes, and suffixes, make yourself (or purchase) simple flashcards that you can use to drill down the basics. Even running through them once per day will help you get in the habit of speaking with and understanding medical terms.
Writing it down
One thing that gives some people pause with medical terminology is spelling the words correctly. Again, defer to the rule of breaking down the word into parts. If you can spell each small prefix, root, or suffix and put them all together, then you can spell medical terms with ease.
One of the best ways to practice spelling is, of course, to write it down. Whether you are a list maker or prefer to draw maps, there is a way for you to incorporate writing terms as spelling and word-recognition practice. Some useful ideas for writing and recalling terms are as follows:
Make lists of similar prefixes, roots, and suffixes based on what body system they are associated with.
Make lists of prefixes, suffixes, and roots based on some other memorable moniker, such as sound similarity or similar meaning.
Draw simple maps of each system and label body part terms.
Use your body system map to identify diseases affecting each specific part. You can also use this technique to identify locations of specific procedures.
Create simple worksheets based on root words and/or systems. Remember “minute math” in grade school? Well, you can just as easily crank out some basic fill-in-the-blank worksheets for various systems or root words and time yourself as you memorize terms.
Got a blank wall? Grab various colors of sticky notes and start making a “word wall.” Using a different color for each system (or word part), start creating movable tables with the sticky notes. This way, you can swap out root words, prefixes, and suffixes quickly as you learn words.
Draw a “mind map” for yourself based on root words and their various prefixes and suffixes. A mind map is the creative version of a flowchart, with a primary concept in the middle and nodes of secondary concepts branching out from it.
Building a medical vocabulary involves breaking down a word by identifying its prefix, suffix, and root word. The root word is the foundation or basic meaning of the word. It can appear with a prefix and suffix or between a prefix and suffix, as prefixes and suffixes never stand alone. They must be attached to a root word.
In this book we outline roots, suffixes, and prefixes and include the anatomy for each body system to help you to understand how everything fits together. When in doubt, look at the table of contents and check a specific body system’s chapter.
Changes in Medical Terminology
Medical language is an entity unto itself and follows a historical development. Common medical vocabulary used today includes terms built from Greek and Latin word parts, some of which were used by Hippocrates and Aristotle more than 2,000 years ago.
One type of medical term is the eponym, a term named after someone. An example would be Parkinson’s disease, named after the English physician Dr. James Parkinson.
With the great advancements in medicine throughout the 20th century, medical language changed with the times and continues to do so today. Some words are discarded or considered obsolete, whereas others are changed, and new words are continually added.
Building on guidance from the Greek and Latin origins, medical terms began to be professionalized in the mid-1800s. Dorland’s Illustrated Medical Dictionary was first published in 1890 as the American Illustrated Medical Dictionary, consisting of 770 pages, over 50 years after the first edition of Webster’s American Dictionary of the English Language. Dr. William Alexander Dorland was the editor, and when he died in 1956 the dictionaries were renamed to include his name, thus they are known today as Dorland’s Illustrated Medical Dictionary. Electronic medical publishing took off during the 1980s thanks to advancements in database publishing and electronic storage. In the mid-1990s, medical dictionaries — most notably Dorland’s, Stedman’s, and Taber’s — became available in electronic form with many editions and publications now readily accessible online. Check out Chapter 25 for a list of great resources.
THE IMPACT OF COVID-19 ON MEDICAL TERMINOLOGY
The medical world (in fact, all of the world) was jolted wide awake in early 2020 with the onset of what would become the COVID-19 pandemic. To be specific, the family of viruses to which COVID-19 belongs, the coronavirus family, has seven viruses that can infect humans (for now, at least).
The widespread pandemic that made COVID a household name impacted not only the medical terms used by professionals — it also introduced these terms to the general public in a way that hadn’t happened before. Medical terminology quickly became part of everyday life for millions as the medical and business worlds, and citizenry at large, learned how to navigate a worldwide pandemic.
Terms like endemic, community spread, droplet transmission, and asymptomatic became de rigueur outside of traditional medical environments. And the medical profession, working round the clock to control and manage the pandemic, tapped into medical terminology in a new way as it endeavored to communicate clearly with a fearful public. We dig more deeply into pandemic-related terminology in Chapter 12.
It’s Greek and Latin to Me
You can thank the two founding fathers of medical terminology for getting the ball rolling: Hippocrates and Aristotle. Hippocrates, a Greek physician who was considered the father of medicine, was a student, teacher, and great physician. Aristotle was a Greek philosopher and a physical scientist. He stressed observation and induction. His major studies were of comparative anatomy and physiology. The Hippocratic Oath — an oath of professional behavior sworn by physicians beginning a medical career — is attributed to Hippocrates.
The Greeks were the founders of modern medicine, but Latin is the basic source of medical terms. With origins in ancient Rome and thanks to good, old-fashioned conquest, Latin quickly made its way through the world, solidifying its rep as the language of choice for medicine and science. Approximately 75 percent of all medical terms are based on Latin or Greek terms, even though modern-day changes are made to make the terms more comprehensive.
Look no further than the study of etymology to help you crack the code of medical terms. Etymology indicates the origin and historical development of a term. Some examples of etymology, or word history, include
Words with Latin origins:
Femur,
for example, is a Latin term referring to a bone in the leg.
Words with Greek origins:
Hemorrhage,
for example, is a word with Greek origin indicating a rapid, uncontrollable loss of blood.
Eponyms:
Words named after people, such as Parkinson’s disease.
Acronyms:
These are modern language terms that stand for longer phrases such as
laser,
which stands for “light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation.”
Etymologies were listed in early medical dictionaries, assuming the reader had studied languages and could read Greek or Latin. But gradually the Greek alphabet was cast aside when it was later recognized that few aside from specialists were actually studying ancient Greek.
Modernizing Medicine
With the advent of the medical dictionary, terminology came to the masses with full force. Today, medical terminology has evolved into modern applications from basic anatomy to include alternative, holistic, naturopathic, and complementary medicine. Other modern applications of medical terminology include (but are certainly not limited to)
CAT scans
DNA advancement
Hundreds of new drugs on the market
Investigative and diagnostic medicine
Joint replacements and other surgical procedures
Laparoscopic surgeries
MRIs
Organ transplants
Stem-cell research
Advancements in orthopedic procedures and replacement limbs
Today medical terminology is used and needed in any occupation that is remotely related to medicine and the normal functioning of the body. Here are a few careers involving the need for medical terminology:
Athletic therapy
Audiology
Biomedical engineer
Cytotechnology
Dentistry and dental hygiene
Emergency medical services
Health records and health information technicians
Massage therapy
Medical statistics
Medical transcription
Nursing Home administrators
Nutrition
Occupational therapy
Personal training
Pharmacy
Physical therapy
Radiology technicians
Speech language
Veterinary medicine
All these applications exist in addition to the obvious groups of healthcare professionals who use terminology in their day-to-day activities, including associates, the medical secretary in a doctor’s office, the insurance claims adjuster, and even the compensation board adjudicator.
Chapter 3
Introducing the Big Three: Prefixes, Roots, and Suffixes
IN THIS CHAPTER
Finding your roots
Getting to know prefixes
Taking a brief look at suffixes
Introducing the starting lineup for your medical terminology team! Whether you realize it or not, most words are made up of individual parts that contribute their own meaning. The big three — roots, prefixes, and suffixes — of medical terms all work together to clue you in to what that word means. Often, they tell you where it comes from, too.
Starting at center, you have the root. The root is the main part of the word, telling you in general the thing you are dealing with. The word root specifies the body part.
Playing forward is the prefix. A prefix appears at the beginning of a word and tells you more about the circumstances surrounding the meaning of the word.
The suffix would be the goalkeeper, to really stretch this metaphor. The suffix is always at the end of a word and, in the medical world, usually indicates a procedure, a condition, or a disease.
Almost every medical term can be broken down into some combination of prefixes, roots, and suffixes. Because they are the core of a word’s meaning, the root words are great in number. There are many more roots than prefixes and suffixes put together.
Rooting Around for Answers
So what makes the root of a word so darned important? Maybe it’s because the root lights the way to understanding the body system in question. The combining form, or word root, specifies the body part the word is either describing or associated with. Just by doing that, it helps rule out hundreds of other possibilities, allowing you to think only about a specific set of body parameters. This section shows two big lists of all the important roots that can appear after any prefix or before any suffix. They divide into two categories: exterior root words, which describe the exterior of the body, and interior root words, which deal with — you guessed it — the inside. These are the big players, the glue that holds all medical terms together. Think of this section as one-stop shopping. If you can’t find your root word here, you won’t find it anywhere! We will not be undersold!
Exterior root words
Table 3-1 lists the root words and combining forms that pertain to the exterior of the body.
TABLE 3-1 Your Fabulous Facade: Exterior Root Words
Exterior Root
What It Means
Acr/o
Extremities
Amb/i
Both sides/double
Anter/o
Front
Aut/o
Self
Axill/o
Armpit, axilla
Blephar/o
Eyelid or eyelash
Brachi/o
Arm
Bucc/o
Cheek (on the face!)
Canth/o
Angle formed where eyelids meet
Capit/o
Head
Carp/o
Wrist
Caud/o
Tail/downward
Cephal/o
Head
Cervic/o
Neck or cervix (neck of uterus)
Cheil/o, chil/o
Lip
Cheir/o, chir/o
Hand
Cili/o
Eyelash or eyelid, or small hairlike processes
Cor/e, cor/o
Pupil of eye
Crani/o
Skull
Cubit/o
Elbow
Dactyl/o
Fingers or toes
Derm/a, derm/o, dermat/o
Skin
Dors/i, dors/o
Back or posterior
Faci/o
Face
Gingiv/o
Gums in mouth
Gloss/o
Tongue
Gnath/o
Jaws
Inguin/o
Groin
Irid/o
Iris of eye
Labi/o
Lips
Lapar/o
Abdomen, loin, or flank
Later/o
Side
Lingu/o
Tongue
Mamm/a, mamm/o
Breast
Mast/o
Breast
Nas/o
Nose
Occipit/o
Back of the head
Ocul/o
Eye
Odont/o
Teeth
Omphal/o
Umbilicus
Onych/o
Nails
Ophthalm/o, ocul/o
Eyes
Optic/o, opt/o
Seeing, sight
Or/o
Mouth
Ot/o
Ear
Papill/o
Nipple
Pelv/o, pelv/i
Pelvis
Phall/o
Penis
Pil/o
Hair
Pod/o
Foot
Rhin/o
Nose
Somat/o
Body
Steth/o
Chest
Stomat/o
Mouth
Tal/o
Ankle
Tars/o
Foot
Thorac/o
Chest / thorax
Trachel/o
Neck or necklike
Trich/o
Hair or hairlike
Ventr/i, ventr/o
Front of body
Interior root words
Now it’s time to meet the movers and shakers that best define your inner self. Table 3-2 lists the root words and combining forms associated with the body’s interior workings.
TABLE 3-2 Beautiful on the Inside: Interior Root Words
Interior Root
What It Means
Abdomin/o
Abdomen
Acanth/o
Spiny or thorny
Acetabul/o
Acetabulum
Acromi/o
Acromium
Aden/o
Gland
Adip/o
Fat
Adren/o
Adrenal gland
Alveoli/o
Air sac
Angi/o
Vessel
An/o
Anus
Aort/o
Aorta
Arteri/o, arter/o
Artery
Arteriol/o
Arteriole
Aspir/o
To breathe in
Ather/o
Plaque, fat
Athr/o, articul/o
Joint
Atri/o
Atrium
Audi/o, aur/i
Hearing
Balan/o
Glans penis
Bio-
Life
Bronch/i, bronch/o
Bronchus
Bronchiol/o, bronchiol/i
Bronchiole
Carcin/o
Cancer
Cardi/o
Heart
Cellul/o
Cell
Cerebell/o
Cerebellum
Cerebr/i, cerebr/o
Cerebrum
Cholangi/o
Bile duct
Chol/e
Bile
Cholecyst/o
Gallbladder
Choledoch/o
Common bile duct
Chondr/i, chondr/o
Cartilage
Chrom/o, chromat/o
Color
Col/o, colon/o
Colon
Colp/owe
Vagina
Cost/o
Rib
Cry/o
Cold
Crypt/o
Hidden
Cutane/o
Skin
Cyan/o
Blue
Cysti, cyst/o
Bladder or cyst
Cyt/o
Cell
Dipl/o
Double, twice
Duoden/o
Duodenum
Encephal/o
Brain
Enter/o
Intestine
Episi/o
Vulva
Erythr/o
Red
Esophag/o
Esophagus
Fibr/o
Fibers
Galact/o
Milk
Gastr/o
Stomach
Glyc/o
Sugar
Gynec/o
Female
Hemat/o, hem/o
Blood
Hepat/o, hepatic/o
