BASIC MEDICAL
TERMINOLOGY I
INTRODUCTION
Requirements
• See the course requirements in
IS, but basically:
• ACTIVE attendance
• regular preparation before
each session
• passing the credit test
Why
Latin/Greek?
• universal, precise and flexible
system of terms denoting:
• anatomical structures
• medicaments, instructions for
pharmacists
• medical documentation
(diagnoses, procedures)
• Application:
• clinical diagnoses
• dissection protocols
• medical prescriptions
• medical documentation ---
communication between doctors
from different
environments/countries/fields of
study
ANATOMICAL
NOMENCLATURE
• First worldwide official standard
terminology appeared 1895
(Basiliensia Nomina Anatomica)
since then it was periodically
updated and changed to
implement new findings and/or
understanding of the anatomical
structures
• Current terminology is approved
by FCAT (Federative Committee
on Anatomical Terminology) and
published in 1998 as
TERMINOLOGIA ANATOMICA
(cf. http://www.unifr.ch)
• 5 bulbus
aortae
• 6 arteria
coronaria dextra
• rami
atrioventricular
es
• 8 ramus coni
arteriosi
• 9 ramus nodi
sinuatrialis
• 10 ramia
atriales
• 11 ramus
marginalis dexter
• 12 ramus
atrialis
intermedius
• 13 ramus
interventricularis
posterior
• 14 rami
interventriculares
septales
• 15 ramus nodi
atrioventricularis
• 16 ramus
posterolateralis
dexter
• 17 arteria
coronaria sinistra
• 18 ramus
interventricularis
major
• 19 ramus coni
arteriosi
• 20 ramus
lateralis
• 21 rami
interventriculares
septales
• 22 ramus
circumflexus
• 23 ramus
atrialis
anastomoticus
Musculus quadriceps
femoris
Musculus flexor carpi
Musculus biceps brachii
Musculus pectoralis major
Musculus deltoideus
Musculi adductores
m. adductor longus
m. adductor brevis
Musculus rectus
abdominis
Musculi obliqui
abdominis
 Many medical terms are based
on metaphors and similes,
i.e. they are formed from words
of non-medical origin
 E.g. bifurcatio = bifurcation
1. a division into two
branches.
2. the point at which
division into two
branches occurs.
furca = a two-pronged fork
bifurcatio tracheae
CLINICAL
TERMINOLOGY
 Non-definite set of terms that names
diseases, health conditions or causes
of death
 First authoritative list of diseases and
causes of death 1868 (Nomenclature
of diseases), 1893 Bertillon's
classification of diseases
 Current terminology ICD-10
(International Classification of
Diseases) is approved by WHO and
published every ± 10 years
(www.who.int/classifications/icd/en/)
 Widely used in medical
documentation e.g. medical reports,
surgical and hospital reports,
pathological reports (central Europe,
Russia and former republics of USSR,
partiallly also in Western Europe Germany,
Austria)
Medical records
WORD COMPOUNDING
card-i-a
card-i-acus
card-i-alis
peri-card-ium
endo-card-ium
myo-card-ium
card-itis
peri-card-itis
card-i-o-logia
card-i-o-graphia
card-i-o-my-o-pathia
prefix
Medical prescriptions
HVLP –
Hromadně
vyráběné
léčebné
přípravky
ILP –
individuálně
připravené
léky
Dissection protocols
Learning
outcomes
• apply relevant Latin anatomical terms
correctly and with understanding;
• recognize and explain grammatical concepts
and categories relevant to the acquisition of
Greek-Latin medical terminology;
• recognize the semantic structure of selected
anatomical and clinical one-word terms;
• explain syntactic structure of complex terms;
• derive adjectives from nouns and vice-versa
using common suffixes;
• form simple compound words denoting
inflammatory and non-inflammatory diseases,
as well as the basic types of tumours (-itis, osis,
-oma)
• translate anatomical terms and simple clinical
diagnoses (with focus put on fractures and
basic types of injuries, i.e. traumatology.
Latin pronunciation
• cancer, medicamentum, lingua
• thorax, pulsus, contusio
• corpus, exitus, functio
• hemispherium, angulus,
fractura
• intestinum, aqua, pharmacon
• oedema, musculus, defectus
• medicus, operatio, infarctus
• homo, bronchus, duodenum
• angina, haemorrhagia, spasmus
• encephalon, bacterium, acne
• migraena, pharynx, dysenteria
• inflammatio, leucaemia, virus
• laparoscopia, typhus,
organismus
• therapia, digitus, gingiva
• gangraena, diagnosis, tonsilla
• injectio, lympha, oxygenium
• vademecum, insufficientia,
chirurgia
Vowels
A Ā B C D E Ē F G H I Ī K L M N
O Ō P Q R S T U Ū V X Y Y Z
Vowels
Long Short
Ā (father) frāctūra A (cut) lingua
Ē (sad) artēria E (met) vertebra
Ī (intrigue) spīna I (intrigue) digitus
I (yes) > J
Ō (door) sensōrius O (on) skeleton
Ū (boom) ruptūra U (put) uterus
Y (analysis) hypophysis Y (lady) tympanum
Diphtongs
AE=Ē (care) anaemia
OE=Ē (care) lagoena
Greek words
OE (o-e) dyspnoe
EU (e-u) euthanasia
Consonants
Consonant/group of
consonants
Pronunciation Example
1: c + a, o, u, consonants
c + ae, oe, e, i, y
[k] medical
[ts] tsar
camera, costa,
cultivatio, cranium
caecus, coeliacia,
centrum, circulatio,
cynismus
A Ā B C D E Ē F G H I Ī K L M N
O Ō P Q R S T U Ū V X Y Ŷ Z
2: ch [x] loch chirurgia, cholera
Consonants
4: h [h] house herba, haematologia
5: j + vowel [y] yes iniectio/injectio,
maior/major
6: p
p + h
[p] present
[f] physiology
pneumonia, pulmo
phantasia, pharmacia
7: qu+ vowel [kv] quarrel aqua, quadriceps
8: r
r+h
[r] rupture
[r]
vertebra, ruptura
rheuma, rhinitis
Consonant/group of
consonants
Pronunciation Example
3: g
gu + vowel
[g] ground
[gv]
gramma, gastritis
lingua, sanguis
Consonants
Consonant/group of
consonants
Pronunciation Example
9: s/ss
s between two
vowels and following
after l, r, n
[s] some
[z] zebra
serum, fossa
nasus, incisura,
pulsus, tonsilla,
inversus, suspensio
10: t
ti + vowel
s/t/x + ti + vowel
t+h
[t] tongue
[tsi]
[ty]
[t]
trauma, tactus
operatio, substantia
tibia, ostium, mixtio
therapia,
thermometrum
11: z [z] zone zoologia
Basic grammatical
concepts
Gender
• Masculine (e.g. nervus)
• Feminine (e.g. fractura)
• Neutral (e.g. cerebrum)
Not always intuitive – you have to
learn the gender of each noun !!!
Why?
to properly inflect the noun
and connect adjectives to it
Number
• Singular (=1)
• Plural (=2 and more)
Case
• ENGLISH: the order of the words in a
sentence/phrase gives the information on
their grammatical function
e.g. complicated fracture of the left
humerus
(adjective – noun – non-agreed
attribute (of…) – WORD ORDER MATTERS
• LATIN: the form of each word in a
sentence/phrase gives the information on
its grammatical function
e.g. Fractura humeri sinistri
complicata = fractura complicata humeri
sinistri – ENDINGS MATTER
Latin
v
English
• English: meaning changes if we
change word order
soft ulcer in duodenum x
ulcer in softduodenum
• the function of a word is
conveyed by WORD ORDER
(Subject-Verb-Object rule)
• Latin: meaning does not change
soft ulcer of/in duodenum
ulcus molle duodeni =
ulcus duodeni molle
etc.
• the function of a word is
conveyed by its ENDING!!!
Function of case in medical terms
case function use vocab system
NOMINATIVE subject of the phrase
always first in the sentence!!
ANATOMY
corpus ulnae
(= body of ulnar bone)
1st dictionary entry
GENITIVE ~ English „of“
ANATOMY
caput femoris
(= head of thigh bone)
2nd dictionary entry
ACCUSATIVE
after prepositions
CLINICAL DIAGNOSES
post operationem
(after the operation)
sine complicationibus
(=without complications)
ABLATIVE
status post implantationem osteoprotheseos coxae sine complicationibus
NOMINATIVE
= state/condition
GENITIVE
= of osteoprothesis
= of hip bone
ACCUSATIVE
= after implantation
ABLATIVE
= without complications
= state after the implantation of osteoprothesis of hip bone without complications
DICTIONARY ENTRY
English noun is
presented only
in its single form
(nominative
singular)
Latin noun is
presented in
three forms
Muscle = MUSCULUS, I, M.
Bone = OS, OSSIS, N.
Basic form
(full nominative)
Genitive ending/or
even full Genitive form
if the word is short
Gender
abbreviation
CAUTION! When learning new words ALL THREE FORMS are EQUALLY
important for the future ability to use the noun in context.
Genitive ending (2nd info) = Declension
DECLENSION 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th
GENITIVE
ENDING
-ae (-es) -i -(?)-is -us -ei
EXAMPLE coxa, ae, f. humerus, i, m.
cranium, ii, n.
coccyx, gis, f.
dens, dentis,
m.
femur, oris, n.
pelvis, is, f.
arcus, us, m.
genu, us, n.
facies, ei, f.
Declensions are groups of nouns (or adjectives) that use the
same set of case endings.
Without learning Genitive form, you cannot classify the noun
into a proper declension group, thus, you cannot use it
properly in a sentence.
Declension
= a group of nouns that share the same
case endings
(have the same set of case endings), see
the declension table
Each noun belongs to one of 5
declensions:
➢1st declension – a-stems – ven-a-rum
➢2nd declension – o-stems – nerv-o-
rum
➢3rd declension
➢ i-stems – pelv-i-um
➢ consonant stems – dolo-r-um,
pon-t-um, sectio-n-um
➢4th declesion – u-stems – duct-u-um
➢5th declension – e-stems – faci-e-rum
GENITIVE STEM
IT IS CRUCIAL TO KNOW THE STEM TO CREATE ALL OTHER
CASES, because the endings are always attached to the stem of
the word !!!
how do I know the stem?
remove the genitive ending, what stays
is the stem!
ven-a
ven-ae
humer-us
humer-i
diamet-er
diametr-i
dol-or
dolor-is
corp-us
corpor-is
de-ns
dent-is
arc-us
arc-us
gen-u
gen-us
faci-es
faci-ei
Adjectives
= words describing nouns
Adjectives always have to
correspond with the noun to
which they belong in gender,
number and case!!!!
fractura ulnae dextrae complicata
vertebrae thoracicae
ad lagoenam fuscam
cum anaemia perniciosa
Why do you think this is so?
Prepositions
• with accusative
• with ablative
➢See the Overview: Basic
grammatical concepts in IS
Follow-up
exercise
• Assign the terms given in
Handout 1 to their declensions
• Write down the full Genitive and
stem of each term