SCIENCE VOCABULARY
Biology I – Honors
Science Vocabulary
Science words are used to
facilitate meaning.
 Did you know that many science
terms can be broken down into
word ‘parts’?
 Most science terms come from two
ancient languages:
Greek
Latin

Science Vocabulary

Why would we want to have a
standard language?
*So scientists around the world would
know what other scientists are referring
to:
English: green plant
Spanish: planta verde
French: usine verte
German: grünes werk
Ukrainian: зелена рослина
Science Vocabulary - Greek
‘Biology’
can be broken
down into:
*Bio-  life (prefix)
*-Logy  the study of (suffix)
Biology
is the study of life.
Science Vocabulary - Latin
‘Bilingual’
can be broken down
into:
*Bi-  two (prefix)
*Lingu/o- tongue, language (root)
*-al  pertaining to (suffix)
Bilingual
means pertaining to two
languages
Medical Example:
 Hypodermic

What does it mean?
‘Hypodermic’ can be broken down into:
*Hypo-  under or below (prefix)
*Derm-  skin (root word)
*-ic  pertaining to (suffix)
Medical Example:

A hypodermic needle injects a substance
underneath the skin.
Hypodermic needle
Medical Example:
 Dermatitis… What does it mean?
‘Dermatitis’ can be broken down into:
*Derm-  skin (prefix)
*-itis  inflamed or swollen (suffix)
Dermatitis means inflamed or swollen skin.
• In this case ‘at’ was added into the word.
• Sometimes when combining prefixes and suffixes, letters are added
or taken out to make the word pronounce better.
Prefixes
 We
can change a root word
simply by adding different
prefixes together
 Ren/o
 kidney (root)
 Prefixes:
 Peri

 around
Perirenal – surrounding the kidney
 Supraabove

Suprarenal-above the kidney
 Infrabelow

Infrarenal - below the kidney
Suffixes
 The
same can be done with
suffixes
 Cephal/o
 head (root)
 Suffixes:
 -ic
 pertaining to

Cephalic – pertaining to the head
 -adtowards

Cephalad – towards the head
 -algiapain

Cephalalgia – pain in the head
(headache)
Prefixes and Suffixes
Science vocabulary is an important tool to
master.
 Learning the meanings of different prefixes,
root words and suffixes will help you
tremendously in your study of biology!

Scientific Names
Many Greek and
Latin prefixes and
suffixes can also be
used to create a
scientific name for an
organism.
 But certain rules must
be followed.

How to write a scientific name:
Scientific names are always
represented by two parts:
 Genus name
 Species name
 The genus name will always come
first and is capitolized
 The species name will always come
second and is NOT capitolized
 Homo sapiens

Notice that it is UNDERLINED!