Foundation of Medicine

Basic Elements of a Medical Word include (These four parts of a word are known as ELEMENTS) :
Word Root , Combining Form , Suffix , Prefix
Word Root : Main part or foundation of a word. All words have at least one word root. A word root may be used alone or combined with other elements to form a complete word. The word root usually refers to a body part.
Some root words are derived from the Latin or Greek language
e. g. SPEAK (word root) + ER (suffix) = SPEAKER (complete word),
Teacher ( Root is Teach , er Suffix one who )



Example Term Meaning Root Greek( G ) Word & Latin( L ) Word
Dermatos G
Nephros G
Stoma G
Cutis L
Oris L
Renes L


Word Root Examples
“dent” means tooth
“dermat” means skin
“cardi” means heart
“gastr” means stomach
“pancreat” means pancreas
Combining Forms: Correct pronunciation of medical words is important. In order to make the pronunciation of word roots easier, sometimes it is necessary to insert a vowel after the root. The combination of a word root and a vowel is known as a COMBINING FORM.
Combining forms consist of a combining vowel. The combining vowel is usually an “o”, but others may be used.
IE: gastr / o pronounced GASTRO
Defining Medical Words: Here are the three basic rules for defining medical words using the example term gastroenteritis.
Rule No. 1 Define the suffix, or last part of the word. In this case, -itis, which means inflammation. Rule No. 2 Define the first part of the word (which may be a word root, combining form, or prefix). In this case, the combining form gastr/o means stomach. Rule No. 3 Define the middle parts of the word. In this case, enter/ means intestine
When you analyze gastroenteritis following the three previous rules, the meaning is revealed as:
1. inflammation (of) 2. stomach (and) 3. intestine
Thus, the definition of gastroenteritis is “inflammation (of) stomach (and) intestine.”