Suffixes
A suffix, if it is present, is always found at the end of a medical term. The suffix modifies the meaning of the term, and despite being at the end, it is usually the first word part that we list when we build a word in Medical English.
For example, the first word in the Unit 1 Word List is adenectomy.
The word is built from
| root | aden | gland |
| suffix | ectomy | surgical removal |
When building the word, we start with the suffix
“surgical removal of…”
and end with the only other word part we have, the root:
“surgical removal of a gland”
Note that in a few cases, suffixes are built from two parts, either a prefix and suffix, or a root and a suffix. Some examples of this are:
ec– a prefix meaning “out of” plus
–tomy meaning “cutting” gives us
–ectomy surgical removal (literally, “cutting out of”)
hyper– a prefix meaning “too much” plus
–trophy meaning “nourishment” or “growth” gives us
–hypertrophy meaning “too much growth”
–malac a root that is taken from the Greek word malakos, “softening” plus
–ia a suffix meaning “disease”
–malacia meaning “softening due to disease”
–scler a root meaning “hardening” plus
–osis a suffix meaning “process” gives us
–sclerosis “the process of hardening”)
Sometimes, the end of a Medical English word is not technically a suffix but really more of a word ending. There is no bright line between a word ending and a suffix. In general, though, a word ending slightly changes the meaning of a root word while a suffix adds a new meaning.
neur root word meaning nervous system
–al word ending meaning pertaining to
neural means pertaining to the nervous system
neur root word meaning nervous system
–on word ending meaning unit of anatomical structure
neuron is a microscopic anatomical unit in the brain; the brain and spinal cord consist of about 80 billion neurons
nephr root word meaning kidney
–on word ending meaning unit of anatomical structure
nephron is a microscopic anatomical unit in the kidney; the kidney consists of about 1 million nephrons
nephr root word meaning kidney
–itis suffix meaning inflammation
nephritis then means inflammation of the kidney
nephr root word meaning kidney
nephr/o– is the combining form (we add the “o” to make it sound better)
–lith suffix (also root word) meaning stone
nephrolith then means stone in the kidney
