MedTerm Suffixes
Included In This Lesson
Outline
Overview
- Suffixes
- Combining with roots
- Plural vs singular forms
- Common suffixes
Nursing Points
General
- Combining with roots
- Suffix provides the context of the term
- Use suffix with proper combining form & vowel (root)
- Breaking down words
- Begin with suffix
- Then work backward and through the word
- Singular to Plural Forms (10 Rules)
- “a” →“e”
- “bursa” to “bursae”
- “is” → “es”
- “prognosis” to “prognoses”
- “ex”/”ix” → “ices”
- “cervix” to “cervices”
- “on” → “a”
- “criterion” to “criteria”
- “um” → “a
- “bacterium” to “bacteria”
- “us” → “i”
- “bronchus” to “bronchi”
- “itis” → “ides”(“is”→“ides”)
- “meningitis” to “meningitides”
- “nx” →“nges”
- “phalanx” to “phalanges”
- “y” → “ies”
- “pathology” to “pathologies”
- “x” → “ces”
- “appendix” to “appendices”
- “a” →“e”
- Common Suffixes
- -algia (pain)
- -cele (hernia)
- -cyte (cell)
- -centesis (surgical puncture for fluid removal)
- -genesis (forming/beginning of)
- -gram (record)
- -graphy (process of recording)
- -itis (inflammation)
- -logy (study) of
- -lysis (breakdown)
- -megaly (enlargement)
- -pathy (disease condition)
- -phobia (fear)
- -plasia (development)
- -sclerosis (hardening)
- -stasis (stopping)
- -stomy (opening to form a stoma)
- -therapy (treatment)
Nursing Concepts
- Clinical Judgment
- Communication
Transcript
In this lesson we’re going to talk about suffixes with medical terminology.
So when we are looking at medical terms the first thing we want to look at is the suffix itself because the suffix provides context to the term. So for instance if we looked at something like -logy, we would know that whatever we are looking at the term, -logy says that study of whatever that root word is. When you’re creating medical terms it’s important to use the proper combining form and vowel. So if we’re going to use the suffix -logy, and we add bio to it, we wouldn’t call it bi logy, because that’s not the proper form. Because logy is the actual suffix, we can add the bio to it and that would mean the study of life.
What we’re trying to figure out what an actual word means, you still want to start with the suffix and then work backwards. So let’s look at the word hematology. Again -logy is the study of, but we start with that and then work backward. We can recognize that hemato means blood, so this is the study of blood.
So there are 10 important rules for converting singular forms of words to plural words when it comes to medical terminology.
Anytime the word ends in a, in order to convert that to a plural form, it would be “sae”. Here you can see that Bursa turns to a bursae.
When a word ends with -is we need to change it to -es. So for the singular form of prognosis it would then be prognoses.
If a term ends in ix or ex, that needs to be converted to -ices . So here we could see that cervix is converted to cervices.
If a term ends -on and and will need to change to -a in a for the plural form. So you can see here that criterion converts to criteria.
Similarly bacterium is converted to bacteria from single to plural form because is converted to a.
With words that end in -us they need to end in -i for the plural form. This is like bronchus to bronchi.
Now words that end with -itis are a little more complicated. You don’t just replace itis with -ides. You actually drop the -is and add -ides. So meningitis in the singular form is converted to meningitides.
Words that end in -nx are converted to -nges. So words like Phalanx is converted to a phalanges.
Words that end in -y and the singular form are then converted to -ies, so pathology would be changed to pathologies.
and lastly any words that end in -x are changed into -ces. So appendix would then change to appendices.
Now here are just a few common suffixes. I’m not going to go over all of them but these are some of the most common ones that you’ll see, so you should work to remember them. Algia refers to pain and cytes are cells. One that you may need to know is centesis which is an actual surgical puncture for fluid removal. It’s also really important to know the difference between gram and graphy. A -gram, like an electrocardiogram is an actual record whereas -graphy is the process of recording. So this would be something like angiography which is the process of recording blood flow through vessels. Now you’ll see some common terms like -itis and -logy and another term -lysis which is a breakdown. A couple of other ones that you’ll notice are things like sclerosis which is a hardening and then therapy which is treatment.
Okay, so let’s recap. Remember when you’re talkin about suffixes that they actually provide you the context of the word. Because of that you always want to start backward with the medical term then go to the front and move forward to the word. And lastly don’t forget your 10 rules for going from the singular to the plural form. Go back and check the slide out and practice all of these rules so that you can get a better understanding of how suffixes really help to spell out what a medical term is.
That’s it for our lesson on suffixes. Make sure you check out all the resources attached to this lesson. Now, go out and be your best self today, and as always, happy nursing!
22 Jan – 28 Feb
Concepts Covered:
- Cardiovascular
- Circulatory System
- Nervous System
- Skeletal System
- Emergency Care of the Cardiac Patient
- Neurological
- Respiratory
- Urinary System
- Respiratory System
- Endocrine System
- Studying
- Tissues and Glands
- Medication Administration
- Hematologic System
- Digestive System
- Reproductive System
- Endocrine and Metabolic Disorders
- Muscular System
- Sensory System
- Basics of Human Biology
- Prefixes
- Suffixes
- Fetal Development
- Terminology
- Proteins
- Statistics
- Med Term Basic
- Med Term Whole
- Preoperative Nursing
- Integumentary Disorders
- Urinary Disorders
- Noninfectious Respiratory Disorder
- Cardiac Disorders
- Shock
- Shock
- Disorders of the Posterior Pituitary Gland
- Endocrine
- Disorders of Pancreas
- Disorders of the Thyroid & Parathyroid Glands
- Gastrointestinal
- Upper GI Disorders
- Liver & Gallbladder Disorders
- Lower GI Disorders
- Central Nervous System Disorders – Brain
- Hematologic Disorders
- Delegation
- Perioperative Nursing Roles
- Acute & Chronic Renal Disorders
- Respiratory Emergencies
- Disorders of the Adrenal Gland
- Documentation and Communication
- Legal and Ethical Issues
- Factors Influencing Community Health
- Immunological Disorders
- Oncology Disorders
- Female Reproductive Disorders
- Cognitive Disorders
- Musculoskeletal Trauma
- Intraoperative Nursing
- Vascular Disorders
- Renal Disorders
- Male Reproductive Disorders
- Sexually Transmitted Infections
- Infectious Respiratory Disorder
- Gastrointestinal Disorders
- Newborn Complications
- Peripheral Nervous System Disorders
- Communication
- Microbiology
- Emergency Care of the Trauma Patient
- Integumentary Disorders
- Musculoskeletal Disorders
- EENT Disorders
- Postoperative Nursing
- Neurological Emergencies
- Disorders of Thermoregulation
- Neurological Trauma
- Basics of NCLEX
- Fundamentals of Emergency Nursing
- Integumentary Important Points
- Multisystem
- Test Taking Strategies
- Emergency Care of the Neurological Patient
- Neurologic and Cognitive Disorders
- Central Nervous System Disorders – Spinal Cord
- Renal and Urinary Disorders
- Respiratory Disorders
- Infectious Disease Disorders
- EENT Disorders
- Emergency Care of the Respiratory Patient
- Adult
- Anxiety Disorders
- Depressive Disorders
- Dosage Calculations
- Understanding Society
- Concepts of Pharmacology
- Newborn Care
- Adulthood Growth and Development
- Pregnancy Risks
- Postpartum Complications
- Substance Abuse Disorders
- Bipolar Disorders
- Learning Pharmacology
- Psychotic Disorders
- Prenatal Concepts