Most medical words are built from parts: a prefix at the front, a root in the middle and a suffix at the end. Learn about 25 prefixes and you can read the front of hundreds of words.
Pairs that get mixed up
Learn these as pairs, because tests love to swap them:
| Prefix | Means | Opposite | Means |
|---|---|---|---|
| brady- | slow | tachy- | fast |
| hyper- | above, excessive | hypo- | below, deficient |
| inter- | between | intra- | within |
| pre- | before | post- | after |
| poly- | many | olig- | few |
| macro- | large | micro- | small |
A quick check for hyper/hypo: hypo- sounds like “under” (think hypodermic, under the skin).
Position prefixes
Picture the heart: endocardium is the lining inside it, epicardium is the layer upon it and the pericardium is the sac around it. Sub- is under, supra- above.
Putting it together
- brady + cardia = slow heart rate
- a + pnea (breathing) = not breathing
- hemi + plegia (paralysis) = paralysis of one side
The next decks in this unit cover suffixes and the roots for body parts, so you can read whole words.
Education only, not medical advice.