Word Roots and Combining Forms

Word Roots

Common Combining Forms

• meg/a, megal/o

  • Meaning: large, million

• melan/o

  • Meaning: black, dark

• micr/o

  • Meaning: small, tiny

• mio

  • Meaning: smaller, less

• morph/o

  • Meaning: structure, shape

• norm/o

  • Meaning: normal

• physi/o

  • Meaning: physical, natural

• pseud/o

  • Meaning: false

• scler/o

  • Meaning: hardness, hardening

• scoli/o

  • Meaning: crooked, bent

• spher/o

  • Meaning: round, spherical

• staphyl/o

  • Meaning: grape-like clusters

• sten/o

  • Meaning: narrowness

• strept/o

  • Meaning: twisted chains, e.g., streptococci

• terat/o

  • Meaning: monster (as a malformed fetus)

• xanth/o

  • Meaning: yellow

Condition or Condition-Related Combining Forms

• bacill/o

  • Meaning: bacilli, bacteria

• bacteri/o

  • Meaning: bacteria

• carcin/o

  • Meaning: cancer

• kyph/o

  • Meaning: humpback

• onch/o, onc/o

  • Meaning: tumor

• path/o

  • Meaning: disease

• pyr/o

  • Meaning: fever, fire, heat

• schist/o

  • Meaning: split

• schiz/o

  • Meaning: split, division

• spasm/o

  • Meaning: spasm

Position or Location Combining Forms

• anteri/o

  • Meaning: front

• dextr/o

  • Meaning: right, toward the right

• dors/o

  • Meaning: back

• goni/o

  • Meaning: angle

• later/o

  • Meaning: lateral, to one side

• medi/o

  • Meaning: middle, medial plane

• mes/o

  • Meaning: middle, median

• orth/o

  • Meaning: straight, normal

• top/o

  • Meaning: place, topical

Body Processes Combining Forms

• crin/o

  • Meaning: secrete

• gen/o

  • Meaning: producing, being born

• hypn/o

  • Meaning: sleep

• log/o

  • Meaning: speech, words, thought

• narc/o

  • Meaning: sleep, numbness

• phag/o

  • Meaning: eating, devouring, swallowing

• somn/o, somni

  • Meaning: sleep

• spir/o

  • Meaning: breath; breathe