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Unit 1 Health Informatics Career Pathway
Creating a plural word in medical terminology does not follow the
same rules as Standard English. In Standard English, the suffi x -s or -es
is added to show there is more than one. This is often not appropriate in
medical terminology. Different plural endings are used with different
Latin and Greek suffi xes (Figure 5.5).
Defi ning medical terms is like solving a puzzle. To discover the
meaning of a term, you will need to break it down into its individual parts
and defi ne each part. Defi ne the suffi x fi rst, and then defi ne the remaining
word parts from left to right. Combine the defi nitions of the word parts to
discover the meaning of the whole term. For example, cardiopulmonary can
be broken into cardi (which means heart), o (the combining vowel), pulmon
(which means lung), and -ary (which means pertaining to). Together they
mean pertaining to the heart and lung.
Practice analyzing medical words that you see and hear. A medical
dictionary will be an important tool when a term comes from a proper
name, cannot be broken down, or has an unclear meaning. However, you
will be able to understand the general meaning of most medical terms
quickly by interpreting the word parts.
Pronunciation and Spelling
Healthcare workers also need to become comfortable reading and
saying medical terms. These terms may seem hard to pronounce,
especially if you haven’t already heard them spoken. Many medical words
have similar and sometimes confusing sounds. They may also look long
Figure 5.5 Plural Forms of Common Latin and Greek Suffixes
Ending Singular Forms Drop Add Plural Forms
-y deformity, family -y -ies deformities, families
-is diagnosis, fibrosis -is -es diagnoses, fibroses
-us alveolus, stimulus -us -i alveoli, stimuli
-um ileum, bacterium -um -a ilea, bacteria
-a vertebra, ruga -a -ae vertebrae, rugae
-ma sarcoma, melanoma -ma -mata sarcomata, melanomata
-ax thorax, anthrax -ax -aces thoraces, anthraces
-ex cortex, index -ex -ices cortices, indices
-ix appendix, matrix -ix -ices appendices, matrices
-on spermatozoon, protozoon -on -a spermatozoa, protozoa
-en foramen, lumen -en -ina foramina, lumina
-nx larynx, pharynx -x -ges larynges, pharynges
-yx calyx -yx -yces calyces