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A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z A word unit meaning common usage description a - without, lacking, not atypical not typical ab - away from abnormal away from normal -ac - pertaining to maniac pertaining to mania acou - hear acoustic relating to hearing acr(o) - extremity, ends of a part acromegaly enlarged hands and feet ad - to, toward adduct movement toward body aden - gland adenopathy gland disease adip - fat adipose tissue yellow fat under skin agora - of the market place agoraphopia fear of open or crowded places -al - pertaining to professional pertaining to the profession alb - white albino without pigment (white) -alg - pain cephalgia headache -algia - pain neuralgia nerve pain all - different allograft transplant from another person ambi - both ambidextrous two rights (two good hands) ana - up, back, again,excessively anadipsia excessive thirst andr - male androgen causing male-like attributes angi(o) - blood vessel angiogram recording vessel properties aniso - different in size anisocoria different sized pupils ankyl - bent, crooked ankylosing ankylosing spondylitis ante - before, forward antegrade forward direction or flow anti - against antivenom works against the venom arterio - artery arteriostenosis narrowed artery arthr(o) - joint arthritis inflammed joint -ase - enzyme Lipase fat-splitting enzyme asth - short of breath, panting asthma breathing problem asthenia - weakness myasthenia gravis muscle weakness disease -ate - use, subject to exfoliate to subject to removal of skin aud - hear auditory relating to hearing aur - ear, hear auricle ear-like aus - hear auscultation to hear or listen auto - self autoimmune disease immune system attack tissues B word unit meaning common usage description baro - pressure barometer pressure meter bi - two, double bifocals two lenses bio - life biology the study of life blast - immature cell leukoblast immature white cell bleph - eye lid blephitis eye lid inflammation brachi - arm brachial artery artery of the arm brachy - short brachydactyly short fingers or toes brady - slow bradycardia slow heart rate bronch - tracheal division bronchitis inflammation of air tubes bucc - cheek buccal administration meds placed in cheek burs - sac bursitis joint sac inflammation C word unit meaning common usage description call - thick skin callous area of thick skin calca - heel calcaneous heel bone can - malignant tumor cancer malignant disease caput - head caput succedaneum head edema from birth carbia - carbon dioxide hypercarbia excessive carbon dioxide carc - cancer carcinoma cancerous tumor card - heart pericarditis inflammed heart sac cardio - heart cardiopulmonary heart and lungs carotid - neck artery carotidynia carotid pain carp - wrist carpal pedal spasm wrist/feet spasm caus - burn caustic able to burn caut - burn cauterize procedure of burning -cele - tumor, hernia vaginocele hernia into the vagina cent - center central being in the center cent - 1/100th centimeter 1/100th of a meter centesis - puncture w/ needle thoracentesis puncture chest with needle cephal - head cephalothoracic head and chest cerebro - brain cerebrovascular accident Stroke cerv - neck cervical relating to the neck chol(e) - bile cholecyctitis gall bladder inflammation chondr - cartilage costochondritis rib and cartilage inflammation chrom - color pheochromocytoma dusky colored cell tumor chrono - time chronotropic rate influence cide - killing viricide virus killer cil - hair-like cillia small hair-like structures circum - around, about circumscribe draw a circlular pattern -cle - small particle a small part cleid - clavicle sternocleidomastoid muscle muscle attaches to clavicle co - with, together cooperate work together col - colon collitis colon inflammation coll - gelatin, neck colloidal solution gelatin like protein con - with, together concordance all together cond - knuckle costocondral rib margin or knuckle contra - against, opposed contraindicated not indicated core - pupil anisocoria unequal pupils cori - skin excoriation removed skin (abrasion) corp - body corpuscle small body cost(o) - rib costochondritis rib knuckle inflammation cryo - cold cryotherapy cold treatment crypto - hidden cryptococcus hidden bacteria cubitus - elbow antecubit in front of elbow -cule - small gradecule small rule cuss - shake percuss shake through (striking) cutaneous - skin subcutaneous under skin -cyte - cell leukocyte white cell cyan(o) - blue cyanosis condition of being blue cyc - circle cyclical moves in a circle cyst(o) - bladder, cyst cystitis sac (bladder) inflammation D word unit meaning common usage description de - down, from demented decreased mental capacity dent - tooth dentist one who works with teeth derm - skin dermatologist one who studies the skin dextro - right ambidextrous two rights (two good hands) di - twice, double, two dissect cut in two sections dia - through, completely diagnosis to know throughly dis - apart displace to move apart dorsi - posterior dorsiflex bend towards back dromo - running dromotropic speed influencing duct - lead, guide, tubular path ductus arteriosis a tubular path from an artery dynia - pain phallodynia pain in the penis dys - with pain or difficulty dyspnea difficult breathing E word unit meaning common usage description ecto - out from, outside ectopic outside normal location ectomy - surgical removal tonsilectomy surgical removal of tonsils edem - swelling edematous having swelled ego - (Gr) goat, (L) self egophony speak like a goat em - in embedding inserting emesis - vomit hematemesis vomit blood -emia - blood anemia too little RBCs encephal(o) - brain encephalitis brain inflammation endo - within endotracheal tube within the trachea enter - intestine gastroenteritis stomach & bowel inflammation ep(i) - on, upon epinephrine on top of kidney erythr(o) - red erythrocyte red cell -esth - sensation paresthesia partial feelings eti - cause etiology study of the cause eu - normal euthermic normal temperature ex - from, out of excoriation to scrape off skin F word unit meaning common usage description facil - easy facilitate to make easy febr - fever febrile to have a fever fibr - fibers fibrillate fibers twitching flex - bend flexable bendable foramen - opening foramen magnum the big opening fract - break fracture break in bone or solid organ G word unit meaning common usage description gastr(o) - stomach gastritis stomach inflammation gen - become, produce psychogenic mind causing genic - causing, forming carcinogenic cancer causein gest - carry, produce gestation to carry or produce young gloss - tongue glossitis tounge inflammation gly - glucose hyperglycemia excessive sugar in blood gluco - glucose glucometer glucose meter -gnosis - knowledge prognosis to know ahead gon - become, produce glucagon glucose producing -gram - written, recording cardiogram heart record -graph - written, recording cardiograph heart record or machine gyn - women ob/gyn relating to women gynec - women gynecologist one who studies women H word unit meaning common usage description hem(a) - blood hematology study of blood hemi - half hemiparesis half partial-feelings hepat(o) - liver hepatitis liver inflammation heter(o) - different heterogenous different components histo - tissue histological study of cells homo - same homogenous same components hydro - water hydrometer measures water hygro - moisture hygroscopic moisture absorbing hyper - over, excessive hyperthermic elevated temperature hypo - under, deficient hypoglycemia low blood sugar hyster(o) - womb, uterus hysterectomy removal of uterus I word unit meaning common usage description iatr(o) - physician pediatrics baby doctor ictal - sudden attack, Sx postictal after the attack icter - jaundice icterus skin yellow skin color idio - personal, distinct, strange idioventricular strange heart rhythm in - not inflammable will not burn -ine - usually a vasoconstrictor oxymetazoline Afrin infra - below, after infrascapular below shoulder blade ingui - groin inguinal hernia groin hernia ino - fiber inotropic fiber influencer inter - between interdigital between the fingers intra - within intraocular inside the eye ipsi - same ipsilateral on the same side ism - condition dwarfism condition of being a dwarf iso - equal isoelectric no electric energy -itis - inflammation carditis inflammed heart K word unit meaning common usage description kinesis - motion hypokinesis diminished movement kinetic - motion kinetic energy mass*velocity squared over 2 L word unit meaning common usage description later - side lateral on or twards the side lact (o) - milk lactate to produce milk leuk(o) - white leukemia white blood (excessive WBCs) lev(o) - left levocardia normal heart (on left) lith(o) - stone fecolith hardened stool ling - tongue sublingual under the tounge -lysis - destruction hemolysis blood destroying lytic - destroying electrolytic destroy with electricity M word unit meaning common usage description macro - large macrocyte large cell mal - bad malodorous bad smell meatus - external opening urinary meatus opening of urethra med - middle median middle mega - large megacolon enlarged colon mel - limb melalgia limb pain melan - black melanocyte pigment producing cell men - monthly mense menstrual period mening - lining of brain & spinal cord meningitis CNS inflammation meter - measure barometer pressure meter micro - small microtome small device to cut mime - copy, mimic sympathomimetic to mimic the S. nervous system morb - disease morbid disease-like (bad) morph - shape morphology the study of shape mono - one monophasic one direction or phase myco - fungus mycosis condition of having fungus myel - spinal cord, marrow myelocyte a cell from the marrow my(o) - muscle myocarditis heart muscle inflammation N word unit meaning common usage description nas(o) - nose nasogastric tube tube inserted in the nose to stomach neo - new neoplasm new tissue growth (sometimes cancer) nephr(o) - kidney nephrectomy removal of kidney neur(o) - nerve neurologist one who studies the nervous system noct - night nocternal up at night nomen - name nomenclature formal names nomin - name O word unit meaning common usage description occipit - back of head occipital area boney area on back of head ocul - eye ocular relating to the eye odon - tooth periodontist area around the tooth oid - likeness, resembles carcinoid cancer-like olig(o) - little oligemic deficient blood -ology - science of traumatology science of trauma -olol - generally a beta blocker propranolol drug name -oma - tumor, swelling hematoma blood tumor (blood bubble) onc(o) - cancer, tumor oncology study of cancer oo - egg ookinesis movement of an egg (ovum) oophor - ovary oophorectomy surgical removal of ovary ophthal - eye ophthalmologist one who studies the eye orch - testes orchitis inflammation of the testes ortho - straight orthopnea can only breath while straight up -osis - condition of hemachromatosis blood color condition os - bone, mouth cervical os opening (mouth) of the uterus oste(o) - bone ostealgia bone pain -ostomy - created opening collostomy opening in the colon ot(o) - ear otoscope device to view the ear ov - egg ovum egg cell oxia - oxygen hypoxia low oxygen level oxy - oxygen oxygenator adds oxygen P word unit meaning common usage description para - next to, by the side of paramedic next to the doctor pari - bear offspring multiparity multiple offsprine parie - wall parietal pleura lining of the chest wall part - bear postpartum after delivery path(o) - disease pathology study of disease ped - child, foot pediatrics child doctor per - through percuss to shake through (by striking) peri - around periumbical around the belly button percuss - strike percussion the act of striking (to make a noise) penia - deficiency leukopenia deficient WBCs phago - eat phagocytosis condition of WBCs eating phall(o) - relating to the penis phallodynia pain in the penis -phasia - speech aphasia can't talk pheo - dusky color pheochromocytoma dusky color cell tumor philia - loves pedophilia abnormal attraction to children philic - loves hydrophilic loves water phleb(o) - vein phlebitis vein inflammation -phobia - fear acrophobia fear of heights -phono - voice, sound phonogram recording of sound or voice photo - light photosensitive light intolerent phylaxis - protection anaphylaxis without protection pino - to drink pinocytosis condition of cell drinking plastic - substance aplastic anemia no cells formed in the blood -plasty - repair of, tying of rhinoplasty nose surgery (nose job) -plegia - paralysis, stopping paraplegia both legs paralyzed pleur(o) - lung cavity membrane pleuritis lung lining inflammation -pnea - breathing tachypnea fast breathing pneum(o) - air, lung, breathing pneumothorax air in chest (pleural space) pod - foot podiatrist one who studies feet poikelo - varied poikelothermia changes temperature to surroundings poikelocytosis condition of many shaped cells (blood) poly - many polysomnolographer one who records many sleep patterns polyposis formation of many polyps post - after, behind post ictal after the attack prand - meal preprandial before eating -pril - generally an ACEI Lysinopril pro - before, in front of proerythroblast cell precurser of an RBC proct - rectum proctologist one who studies the colon/rectum pseud(o) - false pseudoseizure "non-electric seizures" psych(o) - mind psychopath mind disease ptosis - falling down ocularptosis droopy eye lid pty - spit out hemoptysis spit up blood pulm(o) - lung pulmonologist one who studies the lungs pur - pus purulent pus drainage py(o) - pus pyopurulent pus and bacteria pyel - renal pelvis pyelogram kidney study pyr(o) - fever hyperpyrexia very high temp >106 Q word unit meaning common usage description quad - four quadriplegia all 4 limb paralyzed quar - four quart 1/4 gallon quat - four quaternary four components R word unit meaning common usage description radius - rod ren - kidney renal reticulum - network endoplasmic reticulum retro - behind, backward retrograde backward flow retrosternal behind the sternal area rhin(o) - nose rhinorrhea runny nose -rhythmia - rhythm arrhythmia irregular heart -rrhea - flowing diarrhea to flow through -rrhage - excessive flow hemorrhage excessive bleeding -rrhagia - burst forth menorrhagia excessive period -rrhaphy - suture repair rhinorrhaphy nose repair rub - red rubeosis condition of being red S word unit meaning common usage description salpin - tube salpingectomy removal of tube sang - blood exsangunate bleed out sarco - flesh sarcolemma scler - hard scleroderma hardening of skin -scope - instrument to examine stethoscope -scopy - exam with instrument microscopy sebum - fat sect - cut dissect cut in two semi - half semiconscious sept - wall septal sinister - left, bad sinus - cavity, or cycle somat(o) - body (from) somatic tremor coming from the body somn(e) - sleep insomniac person who can't sleep sonic - sound supersonic faster than sound spir - coil spirogram stasis - standing (stopping) hemostasis blood stopper stat - stop hemostat -static - stopping hemostatic stature - height short stature status - condition health status steno - narrowing stenosis condition of being narrowed stern(o) - chest, breastbone sternocleidomastoid stoma - mouth, opening stomatitis inflammation of the mouth -stomy - surgical opening craniostomy opening into the skull sub - under, moderate substernal under the sternum (epigastric area) sulc - groove on brain cerebral sulcus super - above supersaturated supra - above supraventricular above the ventricles sym - with, together symbiosis T word unit meaning common usage description tachy - fast tachypnea fast breathing tact - touch tactile talu - ankle talus -taxia - order, arrangement of ataxia without coordination tel - distance telemetry to meter from a distance thermia - relating temperature hypothermia lower than normal temp thorac(o) - chest thoracospinal area chest near spine area thromb(o) - clot thrombosis condition of having a clot tom - cut microtome small cutting device -tomy - cutting, incision anatomy (to know) without cutting toxic - damaging cardiotoxic damaging to the heart trans - across transthoracic across the chest tri - three triangle three angles trich - hair trichtalomania excessively pulling hair -trophia - nourishment atrophy shrink down tropic - influence inotropic fiber influencing tuss - cough antitussive drug cough suppressant U word unit meaning common usage description uni - one unicycle uria - urine hematuria blood in the urine V word unit meaning common usage description varic - dilated vein vericose veins vaso - vessel vasospasm spasm of a vessel ventr - front, anterior ventrlateral frontal side area venter - abd, belly viscer(o) - viscera (Loops of bowel) evisceration to remove loops of bowel vitro - glass in vitro fertilization test-tube fertilization vivo - life in vivo studies actual use on live subjects X word unit meaning common usage description xen(o) - foreign xenograft animal to human graft xer(o) - dry xeroform gauze type of waterless dressing Z word unit meaning common usage description Zoo - non-human animal zoonotic disease disease from animals
Student AreaURL: http://www.monroecc.edu/depts/pstc/paraterm.htm
Updated: February 26, 1998