How to Learn Basic Medical Terminology

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By Knowpher
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Learn Basic Medical Terminology

Medical Terminology is the "bread and butter" of any medical profession. Even if you are a reciptionist in a medical clinic, knowing basic medical terms and how to figure out what the funny sounding Latin/Greek terms mean will help anyone who is considering a medical profession or who is already in one.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

Medical Terminology Book

Step 1

Medical Terminology is categorized into two different groups. The first is called the descriptive group. These words describe the body part, ie: size, shape, color, location, etc. For example: Epigastric means pertaining to above the stomach.
Step 2

The next group of medical terms is called Eponyms or "putting a name upon." These words were given by a particular person to describe a body part or disease. The part was then named after the person. For example: the Sphincter of Oddi was named after Ruggero Oddi, an Italian anatomist.
Step 3

So lets start dividing the words in the descriptive section. Most descriptive words have a prefix, a suffix, or both. A prefix is a desciptive part attached to the beginning of a word. An example is subligual, or under the tongue. The beginning part of the word sub, is the prefix describing the rest of the word.
Step 4

The suffix is the descriptive part found at the end of the word. An example is cystitis, or the inflammation of the bladder. The ending of the word itis describes what is happening to the bladder.
Step 5

The word root is the main part or foundation of the word. Let's take the example we used for prefix. Ligual is the root word meaning tongue. In the suffix example, cysto is the root of the word meaning bladder. There also can be muliple roots in one word.
Step 6

Now you can combine the root(s) with either a prefix, suffix, or both to make a medical term.
Step 7

In the Resorce link, there are a few websites to give you a list of commonly used terms and quizes to test your knowledge.