HOW MEDICAL TERMINOLOGY WORKS
This specialized language was adopted by the medical community to manage the growing body of scientific knowledge.
Medical terminology
This challenge led early physicians to develop a standardized medical language.
Inconsistent communication across different languages and regions
This part of a medical term provides its core meaning.
The root
This part of a medical term is added to the beginning of a word to modify its meaning.
A prefix
This part of a medical term appears at the end of a word and modifies its meaning.
A suffix
Understanding this allows a practitioner to decipher unfamiliar medical words even if they’ve never seen them before.
Knowledge of Greek and Latin root words
This Egyptian physician is considered the “father of medicine” and authored some of the earliest medical writings.
Imhotep
All medical terms contain at least one of these.
A root word
Prefixes modify root words by doing one of these two things.
Qualifying or quantifying the root
Suffixes can indicate that a word is a noun, adjective, verb, plural, or this form.
A diminutive
These word parts are added to the beginning and end of a medical term to give it clarity and specificity.
Prefixes and suffixes
This Greek physician recognized the need for a universal medical language and referenced earlier Egyptian texts.
Hippocrates
The root of the word becoming is what?
Come
This prefix indicates a specific number of three.
Tri-
Mispronouncing medical terminology can negatively affect how others perceive this.
Professional competence
A medical term named after the person who first studied or discovered a condition is called this
An eponym
The root word plus the combining vowel together is known as this.
The combining form
Understanding roots allows you to do this when encountering unfamiliar medical terms.
Determine or decode the meaning of the word
This type of prefix modifies a root by indicating position or movement.
A directional prefix
These letter combinations often follow special pronunciation rules: p/h, rh, ch, x, and this prefix meaning “bad or difficult.”
Dys-
Using word analysis, this term is correctly defined as inflammation of the skin.
Dermatitis
Medical word analysis begins by identifying this part of the term.
The suffix
The root lapar refers to this body region.
The abdomen
These prefixes indicate negation or “without.”
In- and im-
Understanding parts of speech and standard medical language helps estheticians do this successfully with medical professionals.
Develop a working rapport