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Medical Terminology For
Dummies
From Medical Terminology For Dummies, 2nd Edition by
Beverley Henderson, Jennifer Lee Dorsey
Grasping medical terminology starts with knowing the body’s
systems, recognizing medical root words commonly used,
understanding the Greek influence in medical terminology, and
learning those pesky hard-to-spell medical words.
Your Body’s Systems
Your body is made up of many systems, each having their own vital parts that
work together. This list represents your bodily systems and the specific parts
that comprise them:
Skeletal: Bones, axial skeleton, appendicular skeleton, and joints
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Muscular: Muscles and tendons
Integumentary: Skin, hair, nails, and glands in skin
Sensory: Eyes, ears, nose, skin receptors, and mouth
Cardiovascular: Heart, blood vessels, and blood
Lymphatic: Tonsils, spleen, thymus, lymph nodes, lymphatic vessels, and
lymph fluid
Respiratory: Nose, pharynx, larynx, trachea, bronchi, and lungs
Gastrointestinal: Mouth, esophagus, stomach, small and large intestines,
pancreas, liver, and gallbladder
Endocrine: Hormones, pituitary gland, thyroid, adrenal glands, pancreas, and
gonads
Nervous: Brain, spinal cord, ganglia, nerves, and sensory organs
Urinary: Kidneys, ureters, bladder, and urethra
Reproductive: Ovaries, uterine tubes, uterus, and vagina in females; testes,
ducts, penis, urethra, and prostate in males
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Common Medical Root Words
The root of a word is its main part and core meaning. These common medical
root words give you a general idea of what you’re dealing with or specify a body
part.
Abdomin/o: Abdomen
Aden/o: Gland
Anter/o: Front
Arteri/o: Artery
Audi/o: Hearing
Bio: Life
Brachi/o: Arm
Bronch/i, bronch/o: Bronchus
Carcin/o: Cancer
Cardi/o: Heart
Col/o: Colon
Cyt/o: Cell
Derm/a, derm/o, dermat/o: Skin
Dors/i, dors/o: Back or posterior
Encephal/o: Brain
Gastr/o: Stomach
Gynec/o: Female
Hemat/o: Bl ood
Hist/o, histi/o: Tissue
Intestin/o: Intestine
Lapar/o: Abdomen, loin or flank
Lymph/o: Lymph vessels
My/o: Muscle
Neur/o: Nerve
Ocul/o: Eye
Ophthalm/o: Eyes
Optic/o, opt/o: Seeing, sight
Or/o: Mouth
Ot/o: Ear
Path/o: Disease
Pharmac/o: Drug
Pulmon/o: Lungs
Sept/o: Infection
Thorac/o: Chest/thorax
Thyr/o: Thyroid gland
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Trachel/o: Neck or necklike
Trich/o: Hair or hairlike
Ventr/i, ventr/o: Front of body
Viscer/o: Viscera (internal organs)
Greek Tidbits in Medical Terms
Most common medical terms used today are derived from Latin or Greek. After
all, the Greeks were the founders of modern medicine. Examples of medical
terminology used today based on the Greek language are
The word semantics is derived from the Greek semantikos, meaning
“significant.”
Coccyx comes from the Greek word for “cuckoo” -- it resembles a cuckoo’s
beak.
Remember: myo (muscle) is not to be confused with myelo (bone marrow).
Diaphoresis comes from the Greek dia meaning “through” and phoreo
meaning “I carry.” Translated, it means “the carrying through of perspiration.”
Glaucoma: Greek glaukos means “blue-grey,” and oma means “a condition.”
In glaucoma, gray color replaces the black pupil.
Both Latin and Greek play a role in the roots of the word for heart, cardium.
This word stems from the Greek word kardia.
Adenoid comes from the Greek aden, meaning “gland,” and cidos, meaning
“like.” The term was once used for the prostate gland.
Pancreas is so named because of its fleshy appearance. Greek pan means
“all,” and krea means “flesh.”
Endocrine: Take endo and add it to the Greek krinein, which means “to
separate.”
Paraplegia: The Greek para means “beside,” and plegia means “paralysis.”
The Greek word pyelos means “tub-shaped vessel,” which describes the
shape of the kidney.
Venereal is derived from Venus, the goddess of love. It was thought in ancient
times to be one of the misfortunes of love.
Medical Terms Commonly Misspelled
Don’t get discouraged studying medical terminology. A large group of medical
terms are notorious for being difficult to spell. These medical terms are
commonly misspelled:
Abscess, adolescence, alimentation, alopecia, Alzheimer, analyze, aneurysm,
anorexia, arrhythmia, ascites, asphyxia, asystole, auscultation, callus, catheter,
Caucasian, chickenpox, cirrhosis, curettage, decubitus, diabetes mellitus,
diaphoresis, diaphragm, dilatation, diphtheria, eczema, effusion, elicit,
epididymitis, fascia, flaccid, gallbladder, gangrene, gauge, gonorrhea,
hemoptysis, hemorrhoid, humerus, hygiene, icterus, inoculate, intraocular,
intussusception, ischemia, melanin, menstruation, oophorectomy,
ophthalmology, orthopnea, pacemaker, palliative, palpate, palpitation, perineum,
periosteum, peritoneum, peroneal, prosthesis, prostate, protocol, pruritus,
rhythm, sagittal, sedentary, sequela, sieve, spleen, splenectomy, supersede,
syncope, syphilis, tonsils, tonsillectomy, tricuspid, ventricle, vertical, and
xiphoid.
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