What is Medical Terminology?
Different professions have different “languages”. An example of this is auto maintenance: automobile mechanics use terms to describe the objects and situations they encounter while working, such as “master cylinder” and “oil filter”. Comparatively, medical workers use terms to describe the objects and situations encountered in their fields, such as “hepatitis” and “intravenous”. The words – or terms – which make up the language of medicine are referred to as the terminology of the medical field, or Medical Terminology. Like every other language, medical terminology has changed over time. The basis for medical terminology; however, remains the same. The majority of medical terms are based in Latin or Greek. One such medical term is herpes, which is an inflammatory disease affecting the skin. Herpes is based on the word herpo, which is Greek for “creep along”. Workers in the medical field chose “herpo”–or herpes–to describe the skin condition because it seems to “creep along” the skin.
