InterActive Medical Terminology

Based on the best selling text: An Introduction to Medical Terminology for Health Care (Fifth edition) by A.R.Hutton published by Elsevier Churchill Livingstone

Introduction: The Components of Medical Words

This introductory unit is divided into four sections:

Section 1: The Components of Medical Words
Section 2: The use of Prefixes, Combining forms and Suffixes
Section 3: Reading and Understanding Medical Words
Section 4: Self Assessment

Click on a section and complete the exercises in the sequence they are presented.

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Section 1: The Components of Medical Words

Students beginning any kind of medical or paramedical course are faced with a bewildering number of complex medical terms. Surprisingly it is possible to understand the language of medicine by learning relatively few word components that can be combined in a variety of ways. Studying this section will enable you to complete the following body system units quickly and effectively.

First let's examine a medical word by looking at Example 1, click or tap on the word gastrology:

Example 1

Notice this word has three word components:

                                                                          gastr-    =    word root meaning stomach

                                                                       -o-         =    combining vowel

                                                                       -logy      =    suffix meaning study of

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