Medical Terminology Prefix Glossary
Below is a list of prefixes in alphabetical order. I tried to be as extensive as possible. This list will help anyone who is going into the medical field and requires knowledge of medical terminology. However, even if you are not going into the medical field, it doesn't hurt to learn these words. I have found that I have a pretty good vocabulary (or so said the quizzes I took on Facebook). I don't actually always know the meaning of a word, but my knowledge in medical terminology--which essentially is a knowledge of Latin and Greek--helps me guess. Many of these prefixes are found in regular, non-medical words: unicycle, tricycle, pachyderm, etc.
A brief lesson in medical terminology. You usually read a medical term starting from the end of a word rather than the beginning. For instance, hypogastric. Hypo- is a prefix that means "below". Gastr- is a root that means "stomach". The suffix -ic means "pertaining to". You would read the suffix first, then return to the beginning of the word to get the definition "pertaining to below the stomach".
In the future, I will put up a list of combining forms (roots) and suffixes. I may have to break those up into lists devoted to certain letters because medical terminology is mostly made up of suffixes and combining forms...so it will be a HUGE list for both. Check back to this page, as I will put the links to the lists when I put them up.
PREFIX MEANING
a-, an- No, not, without
ab- away from
ad- toward
af- toward
agora- marketplace
ana- up, apart, backward, again, anew
ante- before, forward
anti- against
apo- off, away
aut-, auto- self, own
bi- two
brachy- short
brady- slow
cata- down
con- together, with
contra- against, opposite
de- lack of, down, less, removal of
dia- complete, through
dorsi- back
dys- bad, painful, difficult, abnormal
ec- out, outside
echo- reflected sound
ecto- out, outside
em- in
en- in, within
end-, endo- in, within
epi- above, upon, on
eso- inward
eu- good, normal, true
ex-, exo- out, away from
extra- outside
hemi- half
hyper- above, excessive
hypo- deficient, below, under,
less than normal
in- in, into, not
infra- below, inferior to, beneath
inter- between
intra- within, into
ir- in
kern- nucleus (collection of nerve
cells in the brain)
mal- bad
mega- large
meso- middle
meta- change, beyond
micro- small
multi- many
neo- new
nulli- none
oxy- rapid, sharp, acid
pachy- heavy, thick
pan- all
par- other than, abnormal
para- near, beside, abnormal,
apart from, along the side of
per- through
peri- surrounding
poly- many, much, increased
post- after, behind
pre- before, in front of
primi- first
pro- before, forward
pros- before, forward
pseudo- false
quadri- four
re- back, again, backward
retro- behind, back, backward
semi- half
sub- under, below
supra- above, upper
sym- together, with
syn- together, with
tachy- fast
tetra- four
trans- across, through
tri- three
uni- one
Here is the link to the first list of combining forms A-B:
http://jessicalgray.blogspot.com/2015/01/glossary-of-combining-forms-in-medical.html
A brief lesson in medical terminology. You usually read a medical term starting from the end of a word rather than the beginning. For instance, hypogastric. Hypo- is a prefix that means "below". Gastr- is a root that means "stomach". The suffix -ic means "pertaining to". You would read the suffix first, then return to the beginning of the word to get the definition "pertaining to below the stomach".
In the future, I will put up a list of combining forms (roots) and suffixes. I may have to break those up into lists devoted to certain letters because medical terminology is mostly made up of suffixes and combining forms...so it will be a HUGE list for both. Check back to this page, as I will put the links to the lists when I put them up.
PREFIX MEANING
a-, an- No, not, without
ab- away from
ad- toward
af- toward
agora- marketplace
ana- up, apart, backward, again, anew
ante- before, forward
anti- against
apo- off, away
aut-, auto- self, own
bi- two
brachy- short
brady- slow
cata- down
con- together, with
contra- against, opposite
de- lack of, down, less, removal of
dia- complete, through
dorsi- back
dys- bad, painful, difficult, abnormal
ec- out, outside
echo- reflected sound
ecto- out, outside
em- in
en- in, within
end-, endo- in, within
epi- above, upon, on
eso- inward
eu- good, normal, true
ex-, exo- out, away from
extra- outside
hemi- half
hyper- above, excessive
hypo- deficient, below, under,
less than normal
in- in, into, not
infra- below, inferior to, beneath
inter- between
intra- within, into
ir- in
kern- nucleus (collection of nerve
cells in the brain)
mal- bad
mega- large
meso- middle
meta- change, beyond
micro- small
multi- many
neo- new
nulli- none
oxy- rapid, sharp, acid
pachy- heavy, thick
pan- all
par- other than, abnormal
para- near, beside, abnormal,
apart from, along the side of
per- through
peri- surrounding
poly- many, much, increased
post- after, behind
pre- before, in front of
primi- first
pro- before, forward
pros- before, forward
pseudo- false
quadri- four
re- back, again, backward
retro- behind, back, backward
semi- half
sub- under, below
supra- above, upper
sym- together, with
syn- together, with
tachy- fast
tetra- four
trans- across, through
tri- three
uni- one
Here is the link to the first list of combining forms A-B:
http://jessicalgray.blogspot.com/2015/01/glossary-of-combining-forms-in-medical.html
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I currently enrolled to a Medical Terminilogy course and your post is very helpful. Looking forward for more post related to this topic.
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