Medical terminology offers an efficient way for healthcare providers to communicate about complex medical topics. Precise and standardized, it eliminates ambiguity, preventing misunderstandings that could compromise patient care. But it’s a highly specialized language that relies on prefixes, suffixes, and roots. These are concepts that not everyone is familiar with. These building blocks from ancient Rome and Greece are the foundation of medical terms.
What Are Roots, Prefixes, and Suffixes in Medical Terms?
Medical terms are constructed using prefixes, suffixes, and root words. Each plays a unique role.
Roots
The root is the core part of a medical term that gives it its primary meaning. Sourced from Latin or Greek, it represents the word’s broader context. “Cardi-,” for example, means heart.
Prefixes
Prefixes are added before root words to refine their meaning. “Myo-,” for example, added to the root “cardi-,” helps form the term “myocardium,” meaning heart muscle.
Suffixes
A suffix is added to the end of the word to modify its definition. As the example above, the suffix “-ium” refers to a body structure or tissue.
What Are Some of the Most Common Roots, Prefixes, and Suffixes?
Occasionally, medical terms don’t follow the usual formula. Borborygmus, for example, describes the bubbling noise your stomach makes when you’re hungry. Unlike most medical terms, it’s an onomatopoeia or a word that imitates a sound. But in most cases, knowing these often-used prefixes, suffixes, and roots will allow you to decipher nearly any medical term, no matter how long or complex:
Prefixes
A-/An-: without or the lack of. Examples include anemia — the deficiency of red blood cells — and aphasia, a speech disorder characterized by the inability to formulate language.
Anti-: against or opposing, such as antibiotics that combat bacterial infections and antihypertensives used to treat high blood pressure.
Bi-: two or twice. Medical assistants and practical nurses often see the abbreviation BID on medications, meaning taking it twice daily.
Dys-: abnormal or painful. This prefix often describes physical symptoms, such as dysuria or painful urination, and dysphagia — irregular or painful swallowing.
Hyper-: excessive or above average, such as hypertension, meaning high blood pressure, and hyperglycemia, a low blood sugar state.
Hypo-: below normal or deficient, such as hypothyroidism — low thyroid hormone levels.
Inter-: between or among, usually referring to structures — intervertebral, for example, between the vertebrae.
Intra-: within or inside, applying to treatments and conditions. Examples include intravenous, meaning given by vein, and intra-abdominal, meaning within the abdominal cavity.
Macro-: large or long. Examples include macrocytes, abnormally large red blood cells, and macrosomia, a baby born much more significant than average for their gestational age.
Micro-: small or tiny, such as microcytosis, meaning abnormally small red blood cells.
Mono-: one or single, such as a monosaccharide, a form of sugar with only one oxygen molecule.
Poly-: many or much, such as polyuria, meaning frequent urination.
Post-: after or behind. Nurses may provide “postoperative” care, referring to care after surgery.
Pre-: before or in front of. Medical assistants may give patients “preoperative” instructions.
Sub-: below or under. MAs and LVNs both offer “subcutaneous” injections under the skin.
Super/Supra-: above or beyond. “Supraorbital” fractures of the bone above the eye are a common sports injury.
Trans-: across or through, such as “transdermal” patches that deliver medication through the skin.
Suffixes
-algia: pain, such as neuralgia, meaning nerve pain.
-cyte: cell, such as a leukocyte, a white blood cell, or an erythrocyte, a red blood cell.
-ectomy: surgical removal, such as an appendectomy – a removal of the appendix.
-iasis: formation. Medical billing specialists will often code “cholelithiasis,” or gallstone formation.
-itis: inflammation. Examples include arthritis, appendicitis, and cholecystitis, a gallbladder inflammation.
-ology: the study or science of, such as cardiology, the study of the heart, or urology, the study of the urinary tract.
-oma: tumor or mass, such as a sarcoma or carcinoma.
-osis: abnormal condition or state, such as “osteoporosis” or bone weakening.
-pathy: a disease or disorder, such as neuropathy, a nerve disorder.
-plasty: surgical repair or reconstruction. Billing specialists use procedural codes to describe an “arthroplasty,” or joint replacement surgery.
-pnea: breathing, such as in “dyspnea,” or labored breathing.
-rhage: excessive bleeding, as in a hemorrhage.
-rrhea: flow or discharge. Examples include diarrhea — frequent bowel movements — and rhinorrhea — a runny nose.
-scope: an instrument for viewing, such as an otoscope, that illuminates the inner ear.
-therapy: a treatment, such as chemotherapy or cancer treatment.
-tomy: cutting or incision, such as in a tracheotomy – an incision in the windpipe.
-uria: referring to urine or urination. Examples include hematuria — blood in urine — and polyuria — excessive urination.
-y: a condition or process, such as an allergy or tetany — involuntary muscle contractions.
Roots
Cardi-: related to the heart, such as cardiology, the study of the heart.
Derm-: related to the skin, such as dermatology.
Gastro-: referring to the stomach. Examples include:
- Gastroenteritis.
- Inflammation of the stomach and gastroparesis.
- Paralysis of the stomach muscle.
- A common complication of diabetes.
Hemat-: related to the blood, such as a hematologist a specialist in blood disorders.
Neuro-: related to the nervous system, such as neurology, studying the nervous system.
Osteo-: meaning bone. Osteoporosis, for example, is a condition characterized by weak bones.
Pneum-: related to the lungs or breathing, as in pneumonia, an inflammation of the lungs.
Ren-: pertaining to the kidneys, such as renolithiasis or kidney stones.
Hepat-: related to the liver, such as hepatitis, an inflammation of the liver.
Gyne-: related to the female reproductive system, as in gynecology, the study of female reproductive health.
Nephro-: also related to the kidneys, such as a nephrologist, a doctor specializing in kidney disorders.
Ortho-: meaning aligned or correct. Related to the musculoskeletal system, it typically refers to orthopedics – a branch of medicine dealing with bone and joint disorders.
Opthalm-: related to the eye, such as ophthalmology.
Glyc-: related to sugar or glucose, such as hyperglycemia or high blood sugar.
Why Is Medical Terminology Important for Medical Billing Specialists, Medical Assistants and Practical Nurses?
Working knowledge of medical terminology is helpful to anyone working in healthcare environments. But for medical assistants, it’s essential for success in their respective roles for several key reasons.
Examples include:
Accurate Communication
Using standardized terminology minimizes the risk of misinterpretation or miscommunication, which can have severe consequences in a medical context. This level of clarity is especially critical during emergencies when swift and accurate communication is essential.
Documentation
Medical terminology helps streamline the documentation process, saying more with fewer words. Medical assistants can distill volumes of healthcare data into a single form just by using the correct terms.
However, terminology knowledge is critical to coding accuracy because code volumes are organized by condition, body system, or service. Knowing what “cholecystectomy” means in a surgical report, for example, can they see that it’s a procedure affecting the digestive tract?
Patient Care
Medical assistants rely on medical terminology to provide effective patient care. They communicate with patients, peers, and providers about medical conditions, treatment plans, and medication instructions.
Error Prevention
Miscommunication is a leading cause of medical mistakes. The clear, consistent, and accurate use of terminology helps prevent serious treatment errors.
Using the term “hypothyroidism” — “hypo-” meaning “under,” “thyroid” referring to the thyroid gland and “-ism” indicating a medical condition — instead of “thyroid disease” in documentation allows all contributing providers to understand the specific nature of the condition and its treatment.
Interdisciplinary Collaboration
Healthcare teams consist of multiple professionals with different backgrounds and expertise. Using precise terms ensures that everyone involved in a case, from doctors and nurses to administrative staff and pharmacists, is on the same page regarding the patient’s condition and treatment plan.
Regulatory Compliance
The correct terminology is required on insurance forms. Similarly, medical assistants must thoughtfully document their care, ensuring continuity of care by using terms other providers can understand.
Patient Education
Medical assistants often play a role in educating patients about their health conditions and treatment plans. They must use clear and understandable medical terminology to convey information in ways people can understand. Using medical terms to teach laypersons may seem counterintuitive, but it helps patients connect the many parts of their treatment plans, from lifestyle recommendations to medication instructions.
Continuing Education
Healthcare professionals in central roles need to keep pace with changes in medicine, including new terminology. Proficiency with existing terms is the foundation for accurately comprehending and interpreting new data.
Career Development
Licenses and certifications are the keys to advancement for many healthcare professionals. But you’ll need a firm understanding of medical terminology to pass most related exams. Proficiency with medical terms may also qualify you for different roles within the healthcare industry, giving you professional flexibility.
How Do You Learn About Medical Terminology?
Anyone can familiarize themselves with medical terminology through books. Learning how to use it properly, however, is a different story. Some terms not only have definitions, but they also have a particular nuance that affects how they’re used. As part of a vocational school program, a medical terminology course helps medical assistants gain fluency in medical speak beyond what the layperson needs.
Courses are tailored to specific roles, so topics for allied health professionals may vary. The instruction is job-focused, meaning you’ll learn the terminology that’s most important for your clinical or administrative role.
Among the first courses in a medical assisting program, a medical terminology class equips students to build on their knowledge of healthcare terms through other lessons and practical exercises. Graduates start their first jobs feeling well-prepared and confident.
Final Thoughts
As in any language, medical words are the sum of their parts. With a working knowledge of prefixes, suffixes, and roots, new healthcare professionals can begin to build their vocabularies and careers.
Want to Learn More?
The Medical Assistant program at Hunter Business School prepares competent, entry-level medical assistants in the cognitive (knowledge), psychomotor (skills), and affective (behavior) learning domains required for professional practice. The Medical Assistant program provides hands-on experience in a medical setting where you can foster professional relationships with actual patients. Medical Assistant students spend 160 hours in an externship in an existing medical environment, supervised and taught to gain valuable on-the-job training.
The Medical Assistant training program is accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs, 9355 – 113th St. N, #7709 Seminole, FL 33775, upon the recommendation of the Medical Assisting Education Review Board (MAERB).
Contact us today to learn more about becoming a medical assistant in Nassau and Suffolk County.