Unit 1- The Word Building System Flashcards
Word roots
Foundation of a word
Come from language of origin
Most commonly Greek and Latin for medical terms
Combining form
Word root plus a vowel
Ex: therm/o
Adding a vowel allows 2 or more roots to be joined and makes term easier to pronounce
“O” is most common combining vowel
Never used as a suffix
Use a CF when adding a word root to another word root or suffix that begins with a CONSONANT
No CF if the second root begins with a VOWEL
Compound words
Formed when 2 or more word roots are used to build the word (brainstem)
Can also be formed from a combining form and a word (thermometer)
Micr/o
Small
Hydr/o
Water
Suffix
Usually described first in a definition
Ex: Electric= pertaining to electricity
Cystitis= inflammation of the bladder
-er
Who or one which
Port
To carry
Adjectives
Describe or modify the meaning of a noun
Cyanosis/ cyanotic
Condition of blueness
Condyle/ condyler
Rounded bony process
Anemia/ anemic
Lack of blood
-ism, -osis
Condition or state, theory
-tion
Condition
-ist
Specialist
-ity
Quality
-ous
Possessing, having, full of
-able, -ible
Ability
Past tense
-ed
Present particible
-ing
Helping verbs
Will, is, was
ex-
From or out from
Acr/o
Extremitites
Megal/o
Enlarged, large
Dermat/o
Skin
-logos
Study
-itis
Inflammation
Paralysis
Loss of movement
singular -on
plural -a
sin. -ma
pl. -mata
sin. -sis
pl. -es
sin. -nx
pl. -ges
sin. -a
pl. -ae
sin. -us
pl. -i
sin. -um
pl. -a
