MEDICAL TERMINOLOGY
INTRODUCTION
Students may encounter intellectual difficulties as they start studying medical
sciences even if they master English as their own mother language. An initial
opaque barrier is there; may be due to the mis-understandable or non-
comprehendable multisyllabic terms.
Why Latin and Greek languages were used while they are "dead languages"!!
- Latin's widespread underpinnings of several modern European languages
(the Romance tongues, especially French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese,
and Rumanian)
- To ensure that the name applied is understood by everyone in the
subspecialty because of their common roots.
- Classical Greek provided the base, even in the most modern of
laboratory descriptive.
We have to understand medical terminology.
Why, and How
Why?
Confusion and imprecision are the most UNWANTED criteria of medical
practice. Language of medicine is retaining many derivations from Greek and
Latin and YET changing, so that precision becomes even more of a necessity in
speaking and writing. To interpret and communicate clearly using precise
determinant terms is really important to fulfil responsibilities towards scientific
and social communities.
How?
Repetition (physiology, histology, anatomy, …) may allow the intellect to
associate a single concept within several different topics, and might reinforce
recollection. This will produce only the vacuous and artificial "memorize-these-
words-for-the-next-exam".
Memorization is not science at all but that names and terms always signify
something more: Each term's "history" (ETYMOLOGY) forms an essential
1
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, basis to answer "why". The correct, sound and necessary approach is to let the
student to understand not only the terms but also why learning them precisely.
The use of "real" sentences and ''real'' science and history gives them an
assurance that what they are learning fits a "real" subject.
We may assume that if we learn what the Greek or Latin names mean, we will
automatically know what the terms mean in modern medical English textbooks.
Sometimes, this does not happen. In old days, Greek and Latin in their own way
were living languages and were as supple and multilayered as is English. So a
medical student should not presume, for example, that a tibia always meant
what it designates today. [Jhon Scarborough 1992]
ILOs / Intended Learning Outcomes
• Demonstrate knowledge of important medical terms.
• Identify root word of the terminology.
• Recognise prefixes and suffixes in medical terms.
• Select and use proper medical terminology in a scenario.
TOPICS
• Scientific Terms & Jargons
• Roots & Affixes (Prefixes, Suffixes, ..)
• Singular& Pleural
• Descriptions ( Numbers, Quantities, Time, Colours, Qualities, positions,
sizes, shapes)
• Bones & Muscles
• Body Systems
SCIENTIFIC TERMS
All of the sciences mirror constant attempt at precision.
Scientific term means one thing and only one thing.
Scientific terms are either descriptive or eponyms.
2
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, Jargons
Sciences present; specialized terms that must be mastered especially in
subspecialties.
ROOTS & AFFIXES
Root (Stem)
Root contains the basic meaning. It is the stem to which affixes (prefix, suffix,
interfix, ..) can be attached.
Example;
friendship = friend [stem] + ship [affix]
Affixes
An affix is the smallest meaningful unit (morpheme) that is attached to a word
stem (root) to form a new word. Affixes are divided into several categories,
depending on their position to the stem. Prefix and suffix are extremely
common terms.
Prefixes
A prefix is an affix which is placed before the stem of a word. It is also called a
preformative, because it alters the form of the word to which it is affixed. It
changes word's meaning or makes a new word.
Example;
Unhappy: (un) is a negative prefix.
3
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, Prefix Meaning Origin Example
Apathy
absence of Ancient Greek الِجبالح
a-, an-
without, not ἀ-/ἀν Anaemia
َفمز د
Antibody
'against' or Ancient Greek عظُ ِضبد
anti-
'opposed to„ ανηι antidepressant
ِضبد ٌإلوزئبة
Contraindicat
Contra against Latin e
ًيزٕبف
with,
Coenzymes
co-, com together, in Latin
إٔشيُ ِظبػذ
association
away from, Deactivate
de- Latin de-
cessation يضجظ
eu- true, good Greek Eukaryote
Dysphagia
صؼىثخ فً اٌجٍغ
dys- bad, difficult Greek δσζ-
dysphasia
صؼىثخ فً إٌطك
'extreme' or
Ancient Greek Hypertension
hyper- 'beyond
ὑπέρ (hyper), إررفبع فً اٌضغظ
normal'
4
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INTRODUCTION
Students may encounter intellectual difficulties as they start studying medical
sciences even if they master English as their own mother language. An initial
opaque barrier is there; may be due to the mis-understandable or non-
comprehendable multisyllabic terms.
Why Latin and Greek languages were used while they are "dead languages"!!
- Latin's widespread underpinnings of several modern European languages
(the Romance tongues, especially French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese,
and Rumanian)
- To ensure that the name applied is understood by everyone in the
subspecialty because of their common roots.
- Classical Greek provided the base, even in the most modern of
laboratory descriptive.
We have to understand medical terminology.
Why, and How
Why?
Confusion and imprecision are the most UNWANTED criteria of medical
practice. Language of medicine is retaining many derivations from Greek and
Latin and YET changing, so that precision becomes even more of a necessity in
speaking and writing. To interpret and communicate clearly using precise
determinant terms is really important to fulfil responsibilities towards scientific
and social communities.
How?
Repetition (physiology, histology, anatomy, …) may allow the intellect to
associate a single concept within several different topics, and might reinforce
recollection. This will produce only the vacuous and artificial "memorize-these-
words-for-the-next-exam".
Memorization is not science at all but that names and terms always signify
something more: Each term's "history" (ETYMOLOGY) forms an essential
1
PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor
, basis to answer "why". The correct, sound and necessary approach is to let the
student to understand not only the terms but also why learning them precisely.
The use of "real" sentences and ''real'' science and history gives them an
assurance that what they are learning fits a "real" subject.
We may assume that if we learn what the Greek or Latin names mean, we will
automatically know what the terms mean in modern medical English textbooks.
Sometimes, this does not happen. In old days, Greek and Latin in their own way
were living languages and were as supple and multilayered as is English. So a
medical student should not presume, for example, that a tibia always meant
what it designates today. [Jhon Scarborough 1992]
ILOs / Intended Learning Outcomes
• Demonstrate knowledge of important medical terms.
• Identify root word of the terminology.
• Recognise prefixes and suffixes in medical terms.
• Select and use proper medical terminology in a scenario.
TOPICS
• Scientific Terms & Jargons
• Roots & Affixes (Prefixes, Suffixes, ..)
• Singular& Pleural
• Descriptions ( Numbers, Quantities, Time, Colours, Qualities, positions,
sizes, shapes)
• Bones & Muscles
• Body Systems
SCIENTIFIC TERMS
All of the sciences mirror constant attempt at precision.
Scientific term means one thing and only one thing.
Scientific terms are either descriptive or eponyms.
2
PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor
, Jargons
Sciences present; specialized terms that must be mastered especially in
subspecialties.
ROOTS & AFFIXES
Root (Stem)
Root contains the basic meaning. It is the stem to which affixes (prefix, suffix,
interfix, ..) can be attached.
Example;
friendship = friend [stem] + ship [affix]
Affixes
An affix is the smallest meaningful unit (morpheme) that is attached to a word
stem (root) to form a new word. Affixes are divided into several categories,
depending on their position to the stem. Prefix and suffix are extremely
common terms.
Prefixes
A prefix is an affix which is placed before the stem of a word. It is also called a
preformative, because it alters the form of the word to which it is affixed. It
changes word's meaning or makes a new word.
Example;
Unhappy: (un) is a negative prefix.
3
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, Prefix Meaning Origin Example
Apathy
absence of Ancient Greek الِجبالح
a-, an-
without, not ἀ-/ἀν Anaemia
َفمز د
Antibody
'against' or Ancient Greek عظُ ِضبد
anti-
'opposed to„ ανηι antidepressant
ِضبد ٌإلوزئبة
Contraindicat
Contra against Latin e
ًيزٕبف
with,
Coenzymes
co-, com together, in Latin
إٔشيُ ِظبػذ
association
away from, Deactivate
de- Latin de-
cessation يضجظ
eu- true, good Greek Eukaryote
Dysphagia
صؼىثخ فً اٌجٍغ
dys- bad, difficult Greek δσζ-
dysphasia
صؼىثخ فً إٌطك
'extreme' or
Ancient Greek Hypertension
hyper- 'beyond
ὑπέρ (hyper), إررفبع فً اٌضغظ
normal'
4
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