Exploring Medical Language- Chapter 3: Directional Terms, Planes, Positions, Regions, and Quadrants

anter/o

front

caud/o

tail (downward)

cephal/o

head (upward)

dist/o

away (front the point of attachment of a body part)

dors/o

back

infer/o

below

later/o

side

medi/o

middle

poster/o

back, behind

proxim/o

near (the point of attachment of a body part)

super/o

above

ventr/o

belly (front)

bi-

two

uni-

one

-ad

toward

-ior

pertaining to

caudad

toward the tail (or the inferior portion of the trunk; downaward)

cephalad

toward the hear (upward)

lateral (lat)

pertaining to a side

medial (med)

pertaining to the middle

unilteral

pertaining to one side (only)

bilateral

pertaining to two sides

mediolateral

pertaining to the middle and to the dside

distal

pertaining to away (from the point of attachment of a body)

proximal

pertaining to near (to the point of attachment of a body part)

inferior (inf)

pertaining to below

superior (sup)

pertaining to above

caudal

pertaining to the tail (synonymous with inferior in human anatomy when specifying a location in the trunk of the body)

cephalic

pertaining to the head

anterior (ant)

pertaining to the front

posterior

pertaining to the back

dorsal

pertaining to the back

ventral

pertaining to the belly (front)

anteroposterior (AP)

pertaining to the front and to the back

posteroanterior (PA)

pertaining to the back and to the front

Frontal or coronal

a vertical plane passing through the body from side to side, dividing the body into anterior and posterior portions.

midsagittal

a vertical plane passing through the body from front to back at the midline, dividing the body