TERMINOLOGY

Medical terminology is easy to be understood if we learn how to break down words into their basic elements. Once we know the meaning of each element, we will be able to speculate the meaning of medical words. Since medical terms consist of two or more elements, the meaning of each element is the sum of all elements. The majority of medical terms originally came from Greek and Latin, with some contributions from Arabic, German, French and Anglo-Saxon origins. 

All medical terms are formed from one or more-word roots. The word roots can be seen at the beginning of medical terms, or they can form the basis of the terms. Normally, word roots provide general reference of what the word is about. They act like a noun or naming word to convey the core meaning of the terms. (Table 1).

They are two elements that can be added to the word roots to modify the original meaning. Prefix comes at the beginning of medical terms proceeding word roots, and it provides additional information about location, time, shape, place, size, or direction. It acts like preposition or adjective to apply new meaning to the word root. Suffix, however, comes at the end of the word roots to provide indication regarding types of conditions, investigations, or procedures. Both prefix and suffix never stand alone and should be added to the word roots. 

Not every medical term has both prefix and suffix along with the word root. The medical term may have both or may have only prefix or suffix (Table 2)(Table 3)

It refers to the vowel that aid pronunciation. It usually links all parts of medical word together. It may link two-word roots together, or it may link the word root with the suffix. The letters “o” and “i” are the two most common combining vowels. When linking two-word roots together, the first word root keeps the vowel even though the second word root starts with a vowel. However, in case of the vowel linking the word root with the suffix, and when the suffix starts with a vowel, the rule requires dropping the combining vowel from the word root (Table 1). 

The word root and the combining vowel together is called a combining form. The combining forms is more common to use in medical terminology than the word root and combining vowels separately. For example: The medical term Erythrocyte can be divided into three elements: the word root (erythr), a combining vowel (o) and a suffix (-cyte). The medical term would be written in this format: (erythr/o -cyte), where is (erythro/o) means red and (-cyte) means cell. Putting it all together, the whole term is (erythrocyte) which means red blood cell.

In medical dictionaries, the combining forms are usually recognized by a slash (/) followed by combining vowel. The slash is written after the roots when medical terms are broken up into their component elements. Prefix is recognized by a hyphen (-) after the prefix while suffix is recognized by a hyphen (-) before the suffix. For examples: The medical term Sublingual can be broken to the following elements: Sub- (prefix) + lingu/(word root) + -al (suffix). 

When adding combining vowels to the word roots, it will become combining forms. To write combining forms, we start with the word root followed by a slash (/) then the vowel. For example, the combining form Angioplasty is written as follow: Angio/o (word root + combining vowel) + -plasty (suffix).

It is common that suffix will be stated first when describing the meaning of a medical terms. For example, the medical term Neurology: (Neur/o) is the combining form (word root + combining vowel) derived from Greek (Neuro) meaning string or nerve, and (-logy) is the suffix means the study of. Thus, the term neurology is branch of medicine dealing with disorders of the nervous system. 

The meanings of word elements never changed disregard the use of them. For example, the combining form (Neur/o) is related to the nervous system. The meaning of this combining form will never change even if you apply it to different medical terms. 

Some combining forms share the same meaning, but they come from different origins. For example, the medical term Uterus. In Latin, it is named (uter/o), but in Greek, it called both (hyster/o), and (metr/o). 

The order of the elements determines the meaning of the medical term. For Examples, the medical term haematuria (haemat/ur/ia) means a condition of blood found in urine. meanwhile, the medical term uraemia (ur/aem/ia) means a condition of urea found in blood. In these two examples, the elements of the medical terms are the same; (haem/) and (aem/) are two-word roots which mean blood, while (ur/) is a word root means urea or urine. The suffix (-ia) means the process or condition. Therefore, the order of the word elements changes the meaning of the medical term.

However, in some cases, the order of the word elements does not change the meaning of the medical term. For Example, the two medical terms hysterosalpingectomy and salpingohysterectomy have the same meaning which is the removal of the uterus and fallopian tubes. Both terms consist of the word roots (salping/) which means fallopian tube, (hyster/) which means uterus and the suffix (-ectomy) which means the surgical removal. In this example, the order of the word roots does not change the meaning of the medical term.

Learning medical terminology may seems difficult and challenge at the beginning but gaining more experiences and practices will make the learning easier and more enjoyable. By time, the ability to sense the core meaning of medical term will be obtained by analyzing its elements and connect those elements together to reach the exact medical terms. 

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The phonetic spelling is meant to help pronouncing the medical term. In medical dictionaries, each medical word or term is written using the correct spelling, followed by the phonetic spelling. The syllable on which the pronunciation stress falls is written in capital letters and the rest of the syllables are in small letters. For instances: biology is written phonetically as (bi-OL-o-jee) while cardiac is written phonetically as (KAR-dee-ak).

Several books and dictionaries of medical terminology are written using the American spelling conventions. Other books are using the Australian/British spelling conventions. Both are correct, and it is the choice of countries to use one form over the other. However, accurate spelling of medical terms is very important to study the medical terminology, and the correct spelling is essential to the meaning of the medical term. Meanwhile, it is often that some medical words sound the same but have a completely different meaning. For instance, the term ilium is the hip bone while ileum is the third part of small intestine. Both terms have similar sound but different meanings. Therefore, it is important to get the spelling correct to get the exact meaning of the term.

Forming plurals of medical terms are formed following normal English language conventions. Adding s or es to the end of a word (examples: muscle/muscles) or replacing the letter y with ies (examples: deformity/deformities). See (Fig. 1) for more detail. 

It is a technique in medical terminology to make it easy to memorize medical information by translating that information into a form that is more easily to be remembered. This technique is used by creating memorable phrases. For instance, the following phrase “Dow Jones Industrial Average Closing Stock Report” is the translation of the order of small and large intestines: Duodenum, Jejunum, Ileum, Appendix, Colon, Sigmoid and rectum.  

It is common in medical terminology that diseases, procedures, structures, and tests is usually named after the person who first discovered them. Previously, a possessive (’s) was added immediately after the name of the person, but currently, this possessive is being dropped. However, some problems with eponyms are identified. First, the name may be used to describe more than one item causing a confusion among healthcare professionals. Second, the eponyms are not a universal technique among countries nor a local among health facilities which leads to more confusion.

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The purpose of anatomical terminology is to enhance accuracy and comprehension and to minimize medical errors. Often, sections of the body are referred to in terms of anatomical planes, which are imaginary lines that are drawn through a body in the anatomical position. (Fig. 2)

• Sagittal plane: vertical line dividing human body into left and right sections.
• Coronal plane: vertical line dividing human body into anterior and posterior sections.
• Transverse plane: horizontal line dividing human body into superior and inferior sections.

It is the core concept to describe all body locations. It is important to help students and healthcare professionals to understand the locations and relations of body organs and structures. Everyone involved in studying anatomy and all related subjects should be oriented well to be succeed in the field. The anatomical position of human body will be performed by having a person standing upright, facing forward, with arms straight and hands held by the hips, palms facing forward. The feet should be parallel and toes pointing forward. (Fig. 3)

The terms of anatomical locations are essential to be able to understand anatomy. The terms help to avoid any confusion when describing the locations of structures and organs. The followings are the common terms of locations (Fig. 4) and (Table 5): 

• Median means the midline of the body 
• Medial means towards the midline.
• Lateral means away from the midline.
• Anterior or ventral refers to the front.
• Posterior or dorsal refers to the back.
• Superior means higher or up.
• Inferior means lower or down. 
• Proximal means closer to the origin.
• Distal means away from the origin.
• External means towards the surface.
• Internal means away from the surface.
• Superficial means near the surface.
• Deep means farther from the surface. 
• Palmar means anterior hand or palm of hand.
• Dorsal of the hand means posterior surface of hand (dorsum).
• Plantar means inferior surface of foot (sole).
• Dorsal of foot means superior surface of foot (dorsum).

There are some terms that are specifically used in the description of embryology (Fig. 4) and (Table 5).

• Cephalic refers to the head of the embryo.
• Ventral refers to the anterior of the embryo.
• Dorsal refers to the posterior of the embryo.
• Caudal refers to the tail end. 
• Rostral refers to the anterior direction of the head.
• Cranial is often replacing cephalic when describing the location of a structure relative to another.

The human body consists of five cavities or hollow spaces fall into two main categories: dorsal and ventral cavities. Each contains specific organs. 

The dorsal cavities located at the back of the body, and sometimes called the posterior (dorsal) cavities. There are two posterior cavities, the cranial cavity, which contains the brain and all related structures, and the spinal cavity, containing the spinal cord and spinal nerves (Fig. 5). 

The anterior (ventral) cavities are at the front of the body. There are three ventral cavities, the thoracic cavity, the abdominal cavity, and the pelvic cavity. The thoracic cavity contains the heart, lungs, trachea, bronchi, esophagus, aorta and thymus gland. The abdominal cavity contains the peritoneum, stomach, intestines, liver, spleen, pancreas, kidneys, and gallbladder. 

The pelvic cavity contains small parts of the intestines, rectum, urinary bladder, urethra, and ureters. In female, the uterus and vagina are included in the pelvic cavity. Very common that abdominal and pelvic cavities are considered together, and they are called the abdominopelvic cavity (Fig. 5).

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  a. It comes at the end of the medical terms.

  b. It provides additional information about location, time, size and direction.

  c. It provides indication regarding types of conditions, investigations and procedures.

  d. It stands alone.

  a. uter/o

  b. hyster/o

  c. dermat/o

  d. metr/o 

  a. haemat/ur/o/ia 

  b. haemat/uria

  c. haemat/ur/ia 

  d. haem/at/uria 

  a. WR + S 

  b. WR + WR + S

  c. P + WR 

  d. P + WR + S 

  a. Suffix

  b. Combining form

  c. Prefix

  d. Word root

  a. electr/o/cardi/o/gram

  b. electro/cardi/o/gram

  c. electr/o/cardio/gram

  d. electro/cardio/gram