Medical Terminology: Prefixes, Roots, Suffixes, and Side Effects

Flashcards covering medical prefixes, root words, suffixes, and common side effect terminology found in clinical notes.

a- (an-)

Without; not (Example: Anemia = lack of blood/hemoglobin)

ante-

Before; in front of

anti-

Against

brady-

Slow (Bradycardia = slow heart rate)

dys-

Bad; difficult; painful; abnormal

endo-

Within; inside

epi-

Upon; on; above

hyper-

Above normal; excessive; high (Hypertension = high blood pressure)

hypo-

Below normal; deficient; low (Hypoglycemia = low blood sugar)

inter-

Between

intra-

Within; inside

macro-

Large

micro-

Small

peri-

Around; surrounding

post-

After

pre-

Before

sub-

Under; below

tachy-

Fast; rapid (Tachycardia = fast heart rate)

trans-

Across; through

arthr/o

Joint

cardi/o

Heart

cephal/o

Head

derm/o

Skin

encephal/o

Brain

enter/o

Intestine

gastr/o

Stomach

gynec/o

Woman/female

hem/o

Blood

hepat/o

Liver

my/o

Muscle

nephr/o

Kidney

neur/o

Nerve

onc/o

Tumor/cancer

oste/o

Bone

ot/o

Ear

path/o

Disease

pharmac/o

Drug/medicine

pulmon/o

Lung

rhin/o

Nose

-algia

Pain

-ectomy

Surgical removal

-emia

Blood condition

-graphy

Recording/imaging

-ia

Condition

-itis

Inflammation

-logy

Study of

-lysis

Breakdown

-megaly

Enlargement

-oma

Tumor

-opsy

View/exam

-osis

Abnormal condition

-pathy

Disease

-plegia

Paralysis

-rrhagia

Excessive bleeding

-rrhea

Flow/discharge

-scopy

Visual exam

-stomy

Surgical opening

-tomy

Surgical incision

-uria

Urine condition

Rhabdomyolysis

Breakdown of skeletal muscle that may damage kidneys.

Angioedema

Rapid swelling under the skin, especially face/lips/tongue/throat.

Hepatotoxicity

Liver damage (hepat/o=liver; tox=poison).

Nephrotoxicity

Kidney damage (nephr/o=kidney; tox=poison).

Photosensitivity

Increased sensitivity to sunlight.

Thrombocytopenia

Low platelet count (thromb/o=clot; cyt/o=cell; -penia=deficiency).

Hypoglycemia

Low blood sugar (hypo-=low; glyc/o=sugar; -emia=blood condition).

Hyperkalemia

High blood potassium (hyper-=high; kal=potassium; -emia=blood condition).

Bronchospasm

Airway muscle tightening causing wheezing/difficulty breathing.

Xerostomia

Dry mouth (xer/o=dry; stom=mouth; -ia=condition).