How Does Medical Terminology Work?
Most medical terms can be broken down into one or more word parts. For simplicity in explanation, we will say that there are four possible word parts, and any given medical term may contain one, some, or all of these parts. We will classify these word parts as (1) roots, (2) prefixes, (3) suffixes, and (4) linking or combining vowels. An example of a word with three of the above parts is the medical term “pericarditis”, which means “inflammation of the outer layer of the heart”.
