EMT Chapter 5: Medical Terminology

Common root words

- Cardi: Heart - Hepat: Liver - Nephr: Kidney - Neur: Nerves - Psych: Minds - Thorac: Chest

Special word parts: colors

- Cyan/o: blue - Leuk/o: white - Erythr/o: red - Cirrh/o: yellow-orange - Melan/o: black - Poli/o: gray - Alb/o: white - Chlor/o: green

Movement terms:

- Flexion: is the bending of a joint - Extension: is the straightening of a joint - Adduction: is motion towards the midline - Abduction is motion away from the midline Bilateral: - Many structures of the body occur bilaterally. A body part that appears on both sides of the midline is bilateral. Ex: The eyes, hands, feet, and ears are bilateral. Unilateral: - something that appears on only one side of the nod is said to occur unilaterally. Ex: Unilateral chest expansion means that only one lung is expanding with inhalation. - Pain that occurs on one side of the body is called unilateral pain. Quadrants: - when describing the areas of the abdomen the way to describe the sections of the abdomen cavity is by quadrants.

Continued

Proximal and distal: - Proximal: describes structures that are closer to the trunk - Distal: describes the structures that are farther from the trunk or nearer to the free end of the extremity. Ex: the elbow is is distal to the shoulder and proximal to the wrist and hands. Superficial and deep: - Superficial: means closer to or on the skin - Deep: means farther inside the body or tissue and away from the skin. Ex: an abrasion is a superficial wound, whereas a deep laceration involves a cut deeper into the tissue such as with a knife. Ventral and Dorsal: - Ventral refers to the belly side of the body or the anterior (front) surface of the body. - Dorsal refers to the spine side of the body or the posterior (back) However, these terms are used less frequently than anterior (front) and posterior (back) Palmar and plantar: - Palmar refers to the front region of the hand - Plantar refers to the bottom of the foot Apex: - The apex (plural apices) is the tip of a structure. Ex: the apex of the heart is the bottom (inferior portion) of the ventricles in the left side of the chest.

Common direction, movement, and position terms

Right and Left: - these terms refer to the patient's right and left side, not your right and left side. Superior and inferior: - The superior part of the body, or any body part, is the portion nearer to the head from a specific reference point. - Inferior: are the parts nearer to the feet. - These terms are used to describe the relationship of one structure to another Ex: for example, the knee is superior to the foot and interior to the pelvis. Lateral and Medial: - Lateral: Parts of the body that lie farther from the midline are called lateral (outer) structures. - Medial: The parts that lie closer to the midline are called medial (inner). Ex: for example, the thigh has medial and lateral surfaces. - The terms medial and lateral help pinpoint an exact location. Ex: the patient has a 2 inch laceration on the medial aspect of the thigh (towards the inside)

Suffixes:

Suffixes are placed at the end of words and usually indicate a procedure, condition, disease, or part of speech. - A commonly used suffix is -"itis" which means inflammation. Commonly used suffixes: - al: pertaining to - algia: pertaining to pain - ectomy: surgical removal of - ic: Pertaining to - itis: inflammation - logy: study of - logist: specialist - megaly: enlargement - meter: measuring instrument - oma: tumor (usually referring to cancer) - pathy: disease

Anatomic Positions

There are many terms used to describe the position of the patient upon your arrival or during transport to the emergency department Prone and supine: - these terms describe the position of a body - Prone: the body is in the prone position when lying face down - Supine: the body is in the supine position when lying face up. Fowler position: the fowler position was named after US surgeon George R Fowler. Placing his patients in a semi reclining position with the head elevated to help them breathe easier and to control the airway. - Semi-fowler: is sitting with the back of the stretcher at a 45 degree angle and high fowler position as sitting at a 90 degree angle. Recovery position: - This position is with the patient on their side, the outer leg bent at a 45 degree angle, and their inner arm under their head.

Special word parts: describe position

To/From - ab: away from - ad: to, towards Above/below/around - de: down from, away - circum: around, about - peri: around - trans: across, through, beyond - epi: above, upon, on - supra: above, over - retro: behind - sub: under, beneath - infra: below, under - para: near, beside, beyond, apart from - contra: against, opposite Outside/inside: - ecto: out, outside - endo: within - extra: outside, in addition - intra: inside, within - ipsi: same

Common symbols:

U: a special U means micro ~: approximately N: Normal X2: times two /: per = w/ a /: not equal a triangle: change

Breaking terms apart:

When trying to define a term, begin with the suffix, then the prefix, and then the root word. Ex: - Nephropathy: Nephr/o/pathy - Pathy: suffix meaning disease - O (combining vowel) - nephr: root word for kidney - Meaning: disease of the kidney Dysuria: - dys/ur/ia - ia: suffix meaning condition of - dys: meaning difficult, painful - ur: root word meaning urine

Plural endings:

You can simply add an s to the end of a word. However, some words are a bit more complicated than that. - Singular words that end in a should be changed to ae. Ex: vertebra becomes vertebrae. - Singular words that end in "is" change to "es" when plural Ex: diagnosis becomes diagnoses. - Singular words that end in "ex" or "ix" change to "ices" Ex: Apex becomes apices - Singular words that end in on or um change to "a" Ex: ganglion becomes ganglia or ovum becomes ova - Singular words that end in "us" change to "i" Ex: Bronchus becomes Bronchi

Common prefixes:

a: without ab: away from ad: to, towards an: without, lack of ana: up, back, again ante: before, forward anti: against, opposed to auto: self bi: two brady: slow circum: around, about contra: against, opposite de: down from, away di: twice, double dia: through, completely dys: difficult, painful, abnormal ect: out, outside end: within epi: upon, over, above eu: easy, good, normal ex: outside, away from extra: outside, in addition

Common root words and combining forms(vowels):

abdomin: abdomen acou/acoust: hear aden: gland adip: fat alb: white alges: pain andr: man/male angi: vessel angin: blood vessel ankyl: fused/stiff anter: front aort: aorta append: appendix arteri: artery arthr: joint asthen: weak atel: incomplete ather: fat atri: atrium audi: to hear aur: ear aut: self bacteri: bacteria bi: life, also two bil: bile blast: germ, bud, developing cell blephar: eyelid brachi: arm

Common suffixes:

al: pertaining to algia: pertaining to pain asthenia: weakness blast: immature cell cele: pertaining to a tumor or swelling centesis: pertaining to puncturing an organ or body cavity, often to drain excess fluid or obtain a sample for analysis. cyte: cell ectomy: surgical removal of emesis: vomiting emia: pertaining to the presence of a substance in the blood esthesia: pertaining to sensation or perception genic: causing gram: record graph: a record or the instrument used to create the record

Continued

bronch: airway, bronchus bucc: cheek burs: pouch or sac calc: calcium carcin: cancer cardi: heart carp: wrist cartil: cartilage, gristle caud: tail cec: blind intestine, cecum cel: hernia, protrusion cent/e: to puncture cent/i: to fraction in the metric system, one hundredth or 100 cephal: head cerebr: brain, cerebrum cervic: neck chol: bile chondr: cartilage chrom: color chron: time cirrh: yellow-orange cleid: clavicle col: colon colp: vagina condyl: knuckle of a joint cor: pupil

continued:

corne: cornea cost: rib crani: cranium crin: to secrete cubitus: elbow cutane: skin cyan: blue cycl: circle or cycle cyst: bladder cyt: cell derm: skin digit: finger or toe dipl: two, double dips: thirst disk: flat shape, intervertebral disk dist: distant, away diverticul: diverticulum. a small blind pouch dors: back duct: lead, move duoden: duodenum ech: to bounce, sound ede: swelling elast: change shape electr: electricity embol: a plug embry: embryo emesis: vomit

continued:

emmetr: according to measure enchephal: brain enter: small intestine episi: vulva erythr: red esthesi: sensation or perception febr: fever flex: bend foramen: opening fract: break gastr: stomach gest: carry, produce, congestion glyc: sugar, sweat gno: know gyn: women, female. hem: blood hepat: liver heter: other, different hom: the same hydr: water idi: person, self lact: milk leuk: white lingu: tongue mal: abnormal, bad medi: middle melan: black, dark men: month, menstruation

Continued:

hemi: half hyper: over, excessive, high hypo: under, below normal in: in, into, not, without infra: below, under inter: between intra: inside, within ipsi: same iso: equal macro: large mal: bad or abnormal mega: large meta: after, change mono: one, single multi: many noct: night nulli: none olig: little, deficient ortho: straight, normal

continued

ia: condition of ic: pertaining to itis: inflammation lysis: decline, disintegration, or destruction megaly: enlargement of meter: measuring

Prefix:

is the part of a term that appears at the beginning of a word. - It generally describes the location and intensity. - Not all medical terms have prefix's A prefix gives the root word a specific meaning. - when a medical term contains a prefix, the meaning of the word is altered. Ex: Pnea is the root word for the word altered. - adding the prefix "a" (without) a/pnea without breathing - adding the prefix "brady" (slow) brady/pnea - adding the prefix "tachy" (rapid) tachy/pnea Commonly used prefixes: - Hyper: which means over, excessive, high - Hypo: under, below normal - Tachy: Rapid, fast - Brady: Slow - Pre: Before - Post: after, behind

Combining vowels:

is the part of the term that connects a word to a suffix or other word root. - In most cases the combining vowel is an o, however it may also be an i or an e. - a combining vowel is usually used when joining a suffix that begins with a consonant or when joining another word root. - Ex: gastr/o + enter/o + logy This would mean stomach + small intestines + the study of

Continued:

mening: membrane, usually refers to the meninges myel: marrow or spinal cord my: muscle nephr: kidney neur: nerve ocul: eye ophthalm: eye oste: bone ot: ear ov: egg palpate: to examine by touch path: disease ped: child or foot percuss: to examine by striking phag: eat pharyng: throat phot: light pleur: rib, side pneum(at): lungs, air pneum(n): lung pod(i): foot pseud: false psych: mind pto: fall ptyal: saliva pulmon: lungs pur, py: pus pyr: fire, heat

Continued:

pan: all, entire para: near, beside, beyond, apart from per: through peri: around poly: many post: after, behind pre: before primi: first pro: before, in front of quadr: four re: back retro: backward, behind semi: half, partial sub: under, below super: above, excessive, or more than normal supra: above, upper sym: together, joined syn: together, joined tachy: rapid, fast tetra: four trans: across, through, beyond tri: three uni: one

continued

quadr: four ren: kidney rhin: nose sangui: blood scler: hard sebum: a fatty secretion of the sebaceous gland sect: cut sept: wall, divider, also seven serum: the clear portion of body fluids, including blood sinus: cavity, channel, or hollow space som: body spir: coil, to breathe stern: sternum (breastbone) stomat: mouth thorac: chest tom: cut toxic: poisonous trich: hair ur: urine uter: uterus, womb varic: dilated vein vas: blood vessel viscer: internal organs xen: foreign (material) xer: dry

Special word parts: numbers

Common number prefixes: - Uni: one - dipl: two, double - null: none - primi: first - multi: many - bi: two - tri: three - quad: four - Tetra: four - quint: five - sexti: sex - septi: seven - oct: eight - nona: nine - deca: ten - semi: half, partial - hemi: half, one sided - ambi: both - pan: all, entire