Medical Terminology Lecture 2: Pronunciation

Pronunciation Pronunciations may vary from country to country, even in different regions of the same country. The general rule is to include the most common pronunciation.

A vowel (a, e, i, o, u) gets a short pronunciation if it has no pronunciation mark over it, such as:  a as in hat  e as in met  i as in bin  o as in some  u as in run

short line over the vowel gives it a long pronunciation:  Ǡ as in say  Ē as in tea  Ī as in lie  Ō as in horse  Ū as in sue

Soft and Hard c and g A soft c, as in racer, will be written as s (R Ā -ser). A hard c, as in candy, will be written as k (KAN-d ē ) A soft g, as in page, will be written as j (p ā j). A hard g, as in grow, will be written as g (gr ō )

silent letters A silent letter or unusual pronunciation can be a problem, especially if it appears at the start of a word that you are trying to look up in the dictionary. The combinations in may be pronounced differently when they appear within a word, as in ◦ apnea(AP-n ē -a), meaning cessation of breathing; ◦ nephroptosis (nef-rop-T Ō sis), meaning dropping of the kidney; ◦ prognosis (prog-N Ō -sis), meaning prediction of the outcome of disease.

Symbols Symbols are commonly used in case histories as a form of shorthand. Some examples are L and R for left and right; ↑ and ↓ for increase and decrease.

Abbreviations Like symbols, abbreviations can save time, but they can also cause confusion if they are not universally understood. Usage varies in different institutions, and the same abbreviation may have different meanings in different fields. An acronym is an abbreviation formed from the first letter of each word in a phrase

Words Ending In x When a word ending in x has a suffix added, the x is changed to a g or a c. For example, xg ◦ pharynx (throat) becomes pharyngeal (fa-RIN-j ē - al), to mean “pertaining to the throat” x g ◦ coccyx (terminal portion of the vertebral column) becomes coccygeal (kok-SIJ- ē -al), to mean “pertaining to the coccyx” xc ◦ thorax (chest) becomes thoracotomy (thor-a- KOT- ō -m ē ) to mean “an incision into the chest.”

Suffixes Beginning With rh When a suffix beginning with rh is added to a root, the r is doubled: rr ◦ hem/o (blood) + -rhage (bursting forth) = hemorrhage (a bursting forth of blood) rr ◦ men/o (menses) + -rhea (flow, discharge) = menorrhea (menstrual flow)

Exercise Pronounce the following words: ◦ Dysfunction dis-FUNK-shun ◦ Rheumatoid R Ū -ma-toyd ◦ Chronologic kr ō n-o-LOJ-ik ◦ Pharynx FAR-inks

Pronounce the following phonetic forms N Ī -tr ō -jen nitrogen S ū R-fassurface VAS-ku-larvascular th ō -RAS-ikthoracic ◦ nar-KOT-ik narcotic

Common Suffixes

Noun Suffixes

Write the suffix in each of the following words that means “study of,”“medical specialty,” or “specialist in a field of study” Exercise

Exercise

Common Prefixes

Prefixes for Numbers

Prefixes for Colors

Negative Prefixes

Prefixes for Direction

Prefixes for Degree

Prefixes for Size and Comparison

Prefixes for Time and/or Position

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