Ch.2---Medical Terminology - Identifying Word Parts and Term Categories

Vocabulary practice flashcards covering medical term components, categories, pronunciation rules, and analysis techniques.

Word Root

The core part of a medical term that contains its fundamental meaning.

Prefix

A word part located at the beginning of a medical term that alters its meaning, often indicating number, position, direction, time, or negation.

Suffix

A word part located at the end of a medical term that alters its meaning, often indicating procedures, conditions, or diseases.

Combining Vowel

A word part—most often an 'o'—that helps pronunciation and is used to connect two word roots or a word root and a suffix.

Combining Form

A word part created when a word root is combined with a combining vowel.

Eponym

A medical term named after the person who discovered it or a geographical location where it was identified (e.g., Alzheimer disease, West Nile Virus).

Acronym

A term formed from the first letters of a compound word or phrase, such as 'laser' or 'AIDS'.

Disease and Disorder Terms

Terms that describe any harmful deviation from the normal structural or functional state of an organism, generally associated with certain signs and symptoms, excluding physical injury.

Diagnostic/Procedural Terms

Terms related to the process of identifying a disease, condition, or injury from its signs and symptoms.

Therapeutic Terms

Terms regarding the treating or curing of diseases.

Anatomical Terms

Terms used to describe specific areas and movement of the body, as well as the relation of body parts to each other.

Macron

A straight line mark above a vowel indicating a long vowel sound.

Analyze Technique

A learning technique that involves dividing a term into word parts, labeling the word parts, and underlining each combining form.

Define Technique

A learning technique where each word part in a term is defined, starting with the suffix meaning and moving to the beginning of the term.

Build Technique

A learning technique that involves placing word parts together to add terms and adding combining vowels appropriately.

Osteoarthritis

Inflammation of bone and joint; constructed from oste/o (bone), arthr/o (joint), and -itis (inflammation).

Intravenous

Pertaining to within a vein; constructed from intra- (within), ven/o (vein), and -ous (pertaining to).