Elayne Beehler, MSN, RN

Knowledge how medical terms are built

Lots of memorization of the various medical word components

Once know the components fairly easy to understand the medical terms

Combination of word elements to form medical words

Prefixes (beginning of word) Suffixes (end of word) Word root (middle of word)

A vowel is placed between the different word elements

Helps to make the medical word easier to say

Most of the letter “o”

Combining vowel not needed when vowel already present

Word root “therm” means heat

Suffix “meter” means machine to measure

Therm/o/meterWord root/combining vowel/suffix

Word root “arthr” means joint Suffix “it is” means inflammation

Arthr/itis Word root/suffix *No combining vowel needed

Esophagogastroduodenoscopy

Esoph/o/gastr/o/duoden/o/scopy

Visual examination of the esophagus, stomach and duodenum

Start with the last word part Then the first word part Followed by the remaining word parts in the

middle ◦ Esophagogastroduodenoscopy

“Visual examination of the esophagus, stomach and duodenum”

Obtain the Introduction to Medical Terminology Study Worksheet

Memorize the items on the Introduction to Medical Terminology Study Worksheet