LATIN AND GREEK SUFFIXES
1. SUBSTANTIVE SUFFIXES
A) LATIN
suffix meaning example
-io act of, result of,
process of
inflammat-io inflammation
-or agent flex-or a muscle the action of which is to flex a joint
-ura act or result of action flex-ura flexion, result of bending
-itas quality, state obes-itas obesity
-mentum instrument, tool liga-mentum ligament
-culus, a, um
-ulus, a, um
-olus, a, um
-illus, a, um
-ellus, a, um
diminutive canali-culus small canal
capit-ulum small head
alve-olus small cavity or pit
pup-illa pupil (the dark circular aperture at the centre of the
iris of the eye)
cereb-ellum posterior brain mass
B) GREEK
suffix meaning example
-ia disease allerg-ia allergy
-iasis disease, pathological
state
psor-iasis a chronic skin disease characterized by
circumscribed red patches covered with white scales
-ismus 1. state
2. addiction
nan-ismus dwarfism (a genetic abnormality resulting in short
stature)
alcohol-ismus alcoholism
-itis inflammatory disease gastr-itis inflammation of the stomach
-osis 1. non-inflammatory
disease
2. degenerative disease
nephr-osis a non-inflammatory disease of a kidney
arthr-osis a degenerative disease of a joint
-oma tumour carcin-oma a malignant tumour of epithelial origin
-omatosis multiple occurrence of
tumours
my-omatosis formation of multiple myomas
2. ADJECTIVE SUFFIXES
A) LATIN
suffix meaning example
-alis, e relation vertebr-alis
-aris, e relation muscul-aris
-inus, a, um relation uter-inus
-eus, a, um relation cartilagin-eus
-aneus, a, um relation cut-aneus
-osus, a, um full of ven-osus
-atus, a, um equipped with caud-atus
-bilis, e possibility, ability mo-bilis
-ilis, e having the quality frag-ilis
B) GREEK
suffix meaning example
-icus, a, um relation thorac-icus
-ideus, a, um similar to xipho-ideus