MEDICAL TERMINOLOGY

Introduction

Medical terminology is a medical word to portrait human physiology and its sub components in controlled processing manner. The term medical terminology is widely used in the fields of medicines and nursing. It is a systematic approach. They are approached in three ways as follows

• Word root
• Prefix
• Suffix

Medical Terminology framing

Word root is core of medical term. They cannot be represented as a single word to indicate the actual meaning of science. This is because word root is not derived from English language. They are a combination of different languages e.g., one word taken from Greek and another from Latin when stands alone sound empty. For instance,etimology

is a science that deals with detailed study of origin of words. When a kidney condition has to describe medical terminology, two word roots are used. Two primary roots are derived from the Greek word nephros and Latin word rene. Kidney failure is usually referred as renal failure. Inflammation of kidney is referred as nephritis. Suffix

‘itis’ conveys the information to users as inflammation of body components. When specific condition for failure has to be mentioned, then prefix like suprarenal is used. Prefix ‘supra’ conveys the message ‘inflammation is at the upper part of kidney’.

Nephrologists’ terminology conveys that word roos are related to kidneys and suffix ‘ologists’ meaning an individual who studies in detail about kidney. Prefix and suffix of medical terminology indicates the actual use of medical term. To avoid ambiguity in proper understanding of medical terms, prefix and suffix will be framed from the same language. Prefix and suffix are usually derived from Greek and Latin languages. Greek prefix should be followed by Greek suffix and Latin prefix should be followed by Latin suffix. The hybrid words of Medical terminology are outlined from lingual roots and are widely accepted.