GREEK AND LATIN
PREFIXES


HOW DO WE DERIVE WORDS IN MEDICAL TERMINOLOGY
—1) Derivation
¡a) Prefix: ante-brachium; ana-lysis
¡b) Sufix: brachi-alis; nephr-itis
¡c) Prefix + sufix: ante-brachi-alis; para-nephr-itis
—2) Composition: prim-i-para; pneum-o-thorax
—3) Derivation + composition: nas-o-lacrim-alis; haemat-ur-ia
—4) Abbreviation: DM; CT; HIV, AIDS
—5) Borrowings: shock; stress
—

WORD ROOT
PREFIX
SUFFIX
PORT
RE
PORT
IM
PORT
SUP
PORT
EX
PORT
TRANS
PORT
PORT
ER
PORT
ABLE
TRANS
PORT
ABILITY
BASIC TERMINOLOGY
 Medical words, like many other words consist of 3 basic component parts:

PREFIXES
—ORIGIN: LATIN/GREEK prepositions and their phonological variants
—ROLE: SPECIFY/RESTRICT/CHANGE/ALTER the meaning of the derived word
¡Ad-ductor vs. Ab-ductor
—POSITION: AT the BEGINNING of the word
—MEANING:
¡TIME/PLACE
¡DEGREE
¡DEVIATION/CORECTNESS
¡
¡
¡

Prae
natalis
Post
natalis
natalis
Peri
Ante
natalis
ante
positio
retro
positio
intra
uterinus
extra
uterinus
exo
genes
endo
genes
cisio
ex
cisio
circum
mortalis
Prae
mortalis
Post
TIME / POSITION

hyper
trophia
hypo
trophia
a
trophia
eu
pnoe
dys
pnoe
-
totalis
sub
totalis
-
magnus
per
magnus
DEGREE / DEVIATION/CORECTNESS

GUESS THE MEANING OF THE PREFIX



vas afferens
colon ascendens
pars extracellularis
arteria infraorbitalis
haemorrhagia epiduralis
glandula exocrina
Hyperthyreosis
graviditas intrauterina
•efferens
•descendens
•intracellularis
•supraorbitalis
•subduralis
•endocrina
•hypothyreosis
•extrauterina
GIVE THE OPPOSITE

Jennifer is seeing her doctor for “praepartum” care. Is she seeing the doctor before or after she
has her baby?
Susan has ”endocarditis”. Is this an infection inside or outside the heart?
The doctor told peter that his condition is called “hypotensio arterialis”. Is his blood pressure
above or below normal?
A tube has been placed to relieve pressure. Terry was told that the tube is called “cathether
suprapubicus”. Is the tube above or below the pubic bone?
Dr. Adams told Paul he would perform an “enucleatio bulbi” on his left eye. Did Dr. Adams remove
Paul’s eye or insert a needle into his eye?
ANSWER THE QUESTIONS