Medical terminology is the shared vocabulary that doctors, nurses, pharmacists, coders and other health workers use to name body parts, conditions, tests and treatments. Most of its words are assembled from a small set of Greek and Latin pieces, so knowing the pieces lets you work out words you have never seen.
Below you will see how a word is put together from a prefix, a root and a suffix, with real examples decoded. From here you can open the suffix list, the prefix list and the root words and combining forms.
At a glance
What it is
The precise vocabulary of health care, shared by every disciplineBuilt from
Prefix, root, combining vowel and suffixMain origins
Greek and Latin, with some modern coinagesWhere you see it
Charts, discharge summaries, test reports, consent forms, codingBest first step
Learn the common suffixes, then prefixes and rootsPractice
Ten question quiz with links to every answer
What is medical terminology?
A simple medical terminology definition: it is the standard set of words and word parts used to describe the human body and health care precisely. Everyday speech says "a swollen liver". A chart says hepatomegaly. The medical word is shorter and means exactly the same to every reader.
That precision matters because one note may be read by the admitting doctor, the night nurse, the pharmacist, the coder and the patient at home. It is also why the subject is taught early in nursing, medical assistant, pharmacy technician, coding and some high school health science programs.
How medical terminology words are built
The root carries the core meaning, usually a body part. A suffix on the end says what is happening: a disease, a procedure, a test, or just that the word is an adjective. A prefix at the front adds position, number, speed or amount. A combining vowel, nearly always o, links parts so the word is easier to say.
The o drops before a suffix starting with a vowel (gastritis, not gastroitis) but stays between two roots (gastroenterology). Read the suffix first, then the prefix, then the root.
| Word | Parts | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| pericarditis | peri (around) + cardi (heart) + itis (inflammation) | Inflammation of the sac that surrounds the heart |
| hypoglycemia | hypo (below normal) + glyc (sugar) + emia (blood condition) | Blood sugar lower than normal |
| bradycardia | brady (slow) + card (heart) + ia (condition) | A heart rate slower than usual |
| nephrectomy | nephr (kidney) + ectomy (surgical removal) | An operation to take out a kidney |
| ataxia | a (without) + tax (order, coordination) + ia (condition) | Loss of smooth, coordinated movement |
| osteoarthritis | oste/o (bone) + arthr (joint) + itis (inflammation) | Wear related joint disease affecting bone and cartilage |
Parts get you close, not always all the way: osteoarthritis is more about worn cartilage than inflammation. The tax/o page shows the ataxia root in other words.
Suffixes, prefixes and roots: where to study each
Each word part list groups its entries by job and pairs every part with a real example word.
| Kind of part | Where it sits | What it usually tells you | Go to |
|---|---|---|---|
| Suffix | End of the word | Condition, procedure, test, or type of word | Medical suffixes |
| Prefix | Front of the word | Where, how many, how fast, how much, or not | Medical prefixes |
| Root or combining form | Middle, sometimes the start | The body part, organ, fluid or color involved | Root words |
Short on time? Start with suffixes. Twenty of them let you sort a new word into disease, surgery or test before you even look at the root.
Everyday words and their clinical names
Often you know the everyday word and want the clinical one, or the reverse. This medical terminology list covers terms patients ask about most, and each name links to a page explaining the term and how it shows up in notes.
| Plain word | Medical term |
|---|---|
| Bruise | Contusion; a flat purple patch is also called ecchymosis |
| Fainting | Syncope |
| Heart attack | Myocardial infarction, shortened to MI |
| Stroke | Cerebrovascular accident, shortened to CVA |
| High blood pressure | Hypertension, shortened to HTN |
| High cholesterol | Hypercholesterolemia, often grouped under hyperlipidemia |
| Nosebleed | Epistaxis |
| Itching | Pruritus |
| Hives | Urticaria |
| Vomiting | Emesis |
| Dry eye | Dry eye disease; older charts may say keratoconjunctivitis sicca |
| Lazy eye | Amblyopia |
| Penis | Penis is already the anatomical term; related combining forms are pen/o and phall/o |
Hypertension splits neatly into hyper (above normal) plus tension. Syncope and pruritus come from whole Greek or Latin words and simply have to be learned.
Breaking down long medical words
Long medical terminology words are usually just short parts in a row. Esophagogastroduodenoscopy is esophag/o (the food pipe) plus gastr/o (stomach) plus duoden/o (the duodenum, where the small bowel begins) plus scopy (looking inside with a scope). Staff shorten it to EGD, and the long form traces the camera's route.
Electroencephalogram works the same way: electr/o (electrical) plus encephal/o (brain) plus gram (a record), which is why it is written EEG. Slashes drawn between the parts make any long word manageable.
Abbreviations built on the same vocabulary
Charts are also full of shorthand such as MI, CVA and HTN, and those letters usually stand for terms built from the same word parts.
The site groups abbreviations by where you meet them: prescription and dosing shorthand on labels and orders, chart note and nursing abbreviations, condition and diagnosis abbreviations, and lab, test and scan abbreviations. When an abbreviation has several meanings, the setting and the writer settle it.
Tips for reading terms in your own records
- Start at the end. The suffix tells you whether the word names a problem, an operation or a test.
- Watch the opposites. Hyper and hypo, tachy and brady, and macro and micro change the meaning completely while looking alike.
- Mind look alike parts. Ectomy removes, otomy cuts into, and ostomy makes an opening.
Keep going: study plan and practice quiz
If you want to go beyond looking up single words, the self study plan for learning medical terminology sets out a week by week route using only free practice methods. To check yourself, the medical terminology quiz mixes abbreviations, word parts and plain words, and each answer links back to the page that explains it.
Frequently asked questions
What is medical terminology in simple words?
It is the language of health care: a set of words, mostly made from Greek and Latin parts, that names body parts, diseases, tests and treatments exactly. Learning the parts lets you decode new words instead of memorizing each one.
In medical terminology, what does a suffix usually indicate?
A suffix usually tells you what kind of word you are looking at, such as a condition (itis, osis), a procedure (ectomy, plasty) or a test (gram, scopy). That is why reading the end of a word first is such a useful habit.
Is there a medical terminology dictionary on this site?
The site works like a plain English dictionary of medical terminology meaning. Abbreviations, word parts and everyday words each have their own page, grouped by topic.
Can knowing a medical term meaning tell me what is wrong with me?
Not on its own. Knowing the meaning of a term helps you follow your own records and talk with your care team. It does not replace their explanation of what the term means for your health, so bring any questions to your next visit or call.