Prefixes and Suffixes Chapters 2 & 3
Color Coding of word parts: From now on you will see: all WORD ROOTS highlighted in PURPLE all COMBINING VOWELS highlighted in RED all SUFFIXES highlighted in BLUE all PREFIXES highlighted in GREEN
Medical Terms that are constructed from parts To review, medical terms that are constructed from parts may include: Word Roots Prefixes Suffixes One or more Combining Vowels (usually an “o” or an “i”
Prefix: a beginning Always attaches to the BEGINNING of a word **IMPORTANT NOTE: The meaning of a prefix always remains the same.
PREFIXES: Prefixes express: Numbers, measurements, position, direction, negatives, and color
Prefixes that express NUMBERS: Bi- Tri- Uni- Primi- Semi- Tetra- Quadri- Milli-
Prefixes that express MEASUREMENTS: Hyper- Hyp/hypo- Multi- Poly-
Prefixes that express POSITION or DIRECTION Ab- Ad- Ambi- Ante- Circum- Endo-
Prefixes that express COLOR: albino- Cyan- chlor- Erythr- Leuk- Melan/o- Cirrh/o-
Prefixes that express NEGATIVES: An- Ana- Anti- Contra- Dis-
Suffix: an ending Always attaches to the END of a word Makes a word a noun or an adjective **IMPORTANT NOTE: The meaning of a suffix always remains the same.
Suffixes: Suffixes usually make a word a: Noun or an adjective
Let’s look at more Noun Suffixes! Examples: Cyanoderma Radiographer Psychologist Albinism These suffixes make words into Nouns: -a -er -ist -ism
Suffixes- Adjective endings In medical terminology, suffixes are what change a word to be an adjective (or a noun, as we saw earlier). What follows next is a list of the most common “Adjective Suffixes”
Suffixes – Adjective endings -ac -al -ar -ic -ical -ile -ory -ous -tic All of these suffixes mean the same thing: PERTAINING TO
Let’s see them used in examples: -ac -al -ar -ic -ical -ile -ory -ous -tic “cardiac” = pertaining to the heart “duodenal” = pertaining to the duodenum “ventricular” = pertaining to the ventricle “thoracic” = pertaining to the thorax “neurological” = pertaining to the nerves/brain “febrile” = pertaining to fever “auditory” = pertaining to hearing “venous” = pertaining to veins “cyanotic” = pertaining to blueness
Pronunciation Practice Apnea Hemiplegia Intercostal Intravenous Primigravida Anemia Osteoblast Epilepsy Tonometry Hemolytic Autism Arachnophobia Lipoma Lithotripsy Colostomy Dyspnea
The End