The root names the body part. Add a prefix and a suffix and you can read whole medical words.
Why “/o”?
Roots are usually written with a combining vowel, most often o: cardi/o, oste/o. The o joins a root to another root or to a suffix that starts with a consonant (cardiology), and it's dropped before a vowel (carditis, not cardioitis).
Two words for the same thing
Many organs have a Greek root and a Latin root:
| Organ | Greek | Latin |
|---|---|---|
| Kidney | nephr/o (nephrology) | ren/o (renal) |
| Lung | pneum/o (pneumonia) | pulmon/o (pulmonary) |
| Skin | derm/o (dermatology) | cutane/o (subcutaneous) |
The Greek root tends to appear in diseases and specialties, the Latin one in plain anatomical adjectives.
Look-alikes
- cephal/o is the head; encephal/o (“in the head”) is the brain; crani/o is the skull.
- my/o is muscle; myel/o is bone marrow or the spinal cord. Read carefully.
Put the unit together
- oste/o + arthr/o + -itis = inflammation of bone and joint (osteoarthritis)
- hepat/o + -megaly = enlarged liver
- inter + cost/o + al = between the ribs
Education only, not medical advice.