94 Medical Terminology: Mastering the Basics Word Elements In this section you will learn word elements—prefixes, combining forms, and suffixes—that are common to the digestive system. By learning these word parts and understanding how they are combined to build medical terms, you will be able to analyze Sue’s health problem (described in the Intern Experience at the beginning of this chapter) and identify a large number of terms associ- ated with the digestive system. E-Flash Card Activity: Word Elements Directions: Review the word elements in the tables that follow. Then, practice with the e-fl ash cards until you are able to quickly recognize the different word parts (prefi xes, combining forms, and suffi xes) and their meanings. The e-fl ash cards are grouped together by prefi xes, combining forms, and suffi xes, followed by a cumulative review of all the word elements that you learned in this chapter. Prefi xes Let’s start our study of digestive system word elements by looking at the prefixes listed in the table below. These prefixes appear not only in medical terms related to the digestive system but also in many terms pertaining to other body systems. Prefi x Meaning a- not without ad- toward anti- against brady- slow dia- through dys- painful diff icult epi- upon above hyper- above above normal pan- all everything peri- around poly- many retro- backward behind