Medical Term Memorization Understanding

transliterated

transposition of a word from one language to another

synonym

two different words that refer to the same thing

suffix 

one or two syllable word appended to the end of a medical term in order to modify its meaning 

stress

syllable in a multisyllabic word that should be emphasized in pronunciation

semantics translation format

suffix, prefix, root ex: peri (around) neur (nerve) itis (inflammation) translation: inflamation around the nerve

semantics

study of the meanings of words and parts of words

root

fundamental part of a Greek or Latin word that expresses the basic meaning of the word

prefix

one or two syllable word attached to the beginning of a term that modifies the meaning of a word

pluralization

changing a word so that it represents more than one. because of inflection, Greek and Latin loan words in medical and scientific english will have different nomative plural forms

phonetic spelling

contains macron, breve, and stress mark to show how a word actually sounds

neologism

new word not found in the parent language from which word is derived

macron

long vowels have a macron placed over them

loan word

latin/greek word adapted into english without significant changes in spelling

inflection

modification of a word by adding different endings to the word in order to change the grammatical function

homographs

words/elements that have similar spellings but different meanings

etymology

study of the origins and historical meanings of words

eponym

term used to when something is derived from particular person (ex: Alzheimers)

elision

omission of a letter from a word element in order to make the word easier to pronounce 

diphthongs

combination of two vowels to make a singular sound ex: au in taught

derivative

word obtained from another language

combining vowel

used to join a root to another root or to a suffix. vowels commonly used are "o" and "i" 

breve

short vowels are indicated by a breve

assimilation

when final letters of prefixes are changed because of the root they're attached to to make it easier to pronounce

3 combining vowel principles

1. combining vowel used to combine a root to a root 2. combining vowel is used to join a root to a suffix only if the suffix begins with a consonant 3. if a suffix begins with a vowel, the combining word is usually omitted

2 principles of elision

1. if a prefix ends with a vowel and the following root or suffix begins with a vowel, the final vowel of the prefix is usually omitted 2. if a root ends with the same vowel that the following root or suffix begins with, the final vowel of the root is usually omitted 

Where did systematic human dissection originate in ancient times?

Alexandria, Egypt

Who were the key figures of human dissection beginning?

Greek physicians Herophilus and Erasistratus

Why is Latin important in anatomy?

Latin became the standardized language of anatomical terminology

case

shows how something functions in a sentence, inflectional endings are added to signify the different grammatical usage of a given noun in a phrase or sentence

nomative case

adding -s or -es to make it subject (first word of an anatomical term is always nomative)

genitive case

“of the x” to make it possessive (the second word of an anatomical term is always genitive)

number

grammatical term to indicate if a noun is plural or singular

gender

designates whether a word is masculine, feminine, or neuter

declensions

collection of nouns which follow a similar pattern of endings to indicate their case and number

What is Hippocratic Aphorism 1.1?

“Life is short, the art is long, opportunity is fleeting, experiment is precarious, and judgment is difficult.”

What does “the art” mean in Aphorism 1.1?

Medicine — medicine was considered a techne (art) in ancient Greek society.

How is Aphorism 1.1 relevant to modern medicine?

Medicine requires lifelong learning, making the most of opportunities to help patients, and making difficult judgments.

What is the etymological approach to medical terminology?

Learning medical terms by understanding their Greek and Latin word elements.

Why is the etymological approach useful?

A relatively small number of Greek and Latin word elements make up close to 90% of technical medical/scientific terms, so knowing them helps you figure out unfamiliar words.