Most Common Medical Terminology Terms

cardi/o

heart

angi/o

vessel

hem/o, hemat/o

blood

my/o

muscle

oste/o

bone

arthr/o

joint

neur/o

nerve

encephal/o

brain (eeg - electroencephalogram)

cephal/o

head

ophthalm/o

eye note: Optometrists primarily provide vision care, including eye exams and prescribing glasses; ophthalmologists perform surgeries and treat eye diseases.

ot/o

ear

rhin/o

nose

or/o

mouth

dent/o

tooth

pharyng/o

throat

laryng/o

voice box

trache/o

trachea

bronch/o

bronchus

pneum/o, pulmon/o

lung

gastr/o

stomach

enter/o

intestine

col/o

colon

hepat/o

liver

cholecyst/o

gallbladder

pancreat/o

pancreas

splen/o

spleen

nephr/o, ren/o

kidney

cyst/o

bladder

ureter/o

ureter

urethr/o

urethra

gynec/o

female

hyster/o

uterus

oophor/o

ovary

orch/o

testis (orchiectomy - surgical removal of 1 or both testicles)

mast/o, mamm/o

breast

derm/o, dermat/o

skin

adip/o

fat

lip/o

fat

hidr/o

sweat (axillary hyperhidrosis)

kerat/o

horny tissue

cyan/o

blue

erythr/o

red

leuk/o

white

melan/o

black

glyc/o

sugar

thromb/o

clot

ather/o

plaque (atherosclerosis - abnormalities (lesions) in wall arteries b/c of elevated levels of blood cholesterol)

tox/o

poison

onc/o

tumor

carcin/o

cancer

path/o

disease

eti/o

cause of disease

diagn/o

complete knowledge

therap/o

treatment

radi/o

radiation

immun/o

immune

psych/o

mind

a-, an-

without (amenorrhea - no period)

ab-

away from

ad-

toward

ante-

before

anti-

against

auto-

self

bi-

two

brady-

slow

tachy-

fast

circum-

around

contra-

against

de-

down (dehydrate - to remove water/ water amount goes down)

dys-

painful / difficult

ecto-

outside (ectoparasites)

endo-

within

epi-

upon

extra-

outside

hemi-

half

hyper-

excessive

hypo-

below normal

infra-

below

inter-

between

intra-

within

macro-

large

micro-

small

mono-

one

multi-

many

neo-

new

pan-

all

peri-

around

poly-

many

post-

after

pre-

before

retro-

backward

sub-

under

super-

above

supra-

above

trans-

across

uni-

one

-ac

pertaining to

-al

pertaining to

-ary

pertaining to (binary - relating to/pertaining to involving two things)

-cyte

cell