Jennifer L. Dorsey

Grasping medical terminology starts with knowing the body’s systems, recognizing medical root words commonly used, understanding the Greek influence in medical terminology, and learning those pesky hard-to-spell medical words.Your Body’s SystemsYour body is made up of many systems, each having their own vital parts that work together.

What makes up the inside of your body, from cells to organs and everything in between, lends itself to an abundance of body part-related medical terms. All the root words and combining forms can morph into all kinds of different words that explain everything from everyday common conditions and procedures to pathology and pharmacology.

Time for some medical terminology fun! The glands of the endocrine system all produce different hormones that help keep the systems of the body running like clockwork. If you consider these glands the gatekeepers of the hormones they produce and send, you can consider prefixes and suffixes the gatekeepers of the root words.

There are a slew of medical terms for issues related to the cardiovascular and lymphatic systems. Our blood travels through the superhighway of our arterial and venous systems, and it carries a lot of passengers. Common cardiovascular and lymphatic conditions Because it is so multifaceted, the blood and its cells can harbor all sorts of conditions.

Most common medical terms used today are derived from Latin or Greek. After all, the Greeks were the founders of modern medicine. Examples of medical terminology used today based on the Greek language are The word semantics is derived from the Greek semantikos, meaning “significant.” Coccyx comes from the Greek word for “cuckoo” -- it resembles a cuckoo’s beak.

Don’t get discouraged studying medical terminology. A large group of medical terms are notorious for being difficult to spell. These medical terms are commonly misspelled: Abscess, adolescence, alimentation, alopecia, Alzheimer, analyze, aneurysm, anorexia, arrhythmia, ascites, asphyxia, asystole, auscultation, callus, catheter, Caucasian, chickenpox, cirrhosis, curettage, decubitus, diabetes mellitus, diaphoresis, diaphragm, dilatation, diphtheria, eczema, effusion, elicit, epididymitis, fascia, flaccid, gallbladder, gangrene, gauge, gonorrhea, hemoptysis, hemorrhoid, humerus, hygiene, icterus, inoculate, intraocular, intussusception, ischemia, melanin, menstruation, oophorectomy, ophthalmology, orthopnea, pacemaker, palliative, palpate, palpitation, perineum, periosteum, peritoneum, peroneal, prosthesis, prostate, protocol, pruritus, rhythm, sagittal, sedentary, sequela, sieve, spleen, splenectomy, supersede, syncope, syphilis, tonsils, tonsillectomy, tricuspid, ventricle, vertical, and xiphoid.

The root of a word is its main part and core meaning. These common medical root words give you a general idea of what you’re dealing with or specify a body part. Abdomin/o: Abdomen Aden/o: Gland Anter/o: Front Arteri/o: Artery Audi/o: Hearing Bio: Life Brachi/o: Arm Bronch/i, bronch/o: Br

Your body is made up of many systems, each having their own vital parts that work together. This list represents your bodily systems and the specific parts that comprise them: Skeletal: Bones, axial skeleton, appendicular skeleton, and joints Muscular: Muscles and tendons Integumentary: Skin, hair, nail