Have you ever come away from your car mechanic, or a true gearhead, not understanding a lot of their recommendations? Car lingo is tough—leaves you with a little turbo lag. But every profession has jargon. The worst is medical jargon. The complexity leaves you feeling as if you need to learn a foreign language. If it sounds like a foreign language, it’s because it is! To be your own best advocate, knowing a few terminology basics will give you a valuable skill and leg up with a way to break apart confusing medical terms.
Most medical terms are bits of Greek or Latin strung together. Each word typically has three components—root words, prefixes, and suffixes. Put together in order, it is prefix, root word, then suffix. Knowing this, you can decode any medical term.
Root words are the foundation of a medical term’s meaning, so start there. A few common examples are “append,” the root word of your appendix. Or “cardio” for heart. Others you may already know, like “derma” for skin, or “malign” for harmful or bad, as in malignancy. Easy, right?
Prefixes and suffixes are where it gets tricky. Knowing they are there and have a unique meaning, your search for knowledge gets easier. Prefixes usually tell you something about a condition’s characteristics, like size, function or quantity, or when it occurs or how fast. If we stick with the root cardi or cardio and add the prefix meaning “around” or “peri” as in pericardium—it’s now “around the heart.” If your root has the prefix “brady”, which means slow, added to cardi, you now have bradycardia, or a slow heart rate. Prefixes can also give you a hint at a procedure. The prefix “hypo” means “below” and it you add it to derm, you now have “hypoderma” for below the skin. Don’t give up yet!
What about the suffixes? In general, the suffix just provides context to the root. In the above example of “hypoderma,” the word will always get spell checked, because it’s missing context. But, if you add the suffix “ic,” you get hypodermic—no more spell check. “Ic” means pertaining to, so in a context that may be more familiar, as in hypodermic needle, it’s a needle that is used to go below the skin. Not so bad, right?
The idea is not to get you a medical terminology certification, it’s just to take away some of the mystery in the medical foreign language—a way for you to break it down and carry with you a greater understanding of what your healthcare gearhead is telling you. Here are just a few common examples to show you how to use your new skill.
Hypo+thyroid+ism. The prefix “hypo” means below, beneath, or deficient. Thyroid is the root term for your thyroid gland, and the suffix “ism” refers to a process or condition. Knowing how to associate all of this, you now know this is a condition of someone with a deficient thyroid gland.
Apend+ectomy. You already know append is the root word for your appendix. “Ectomy” means surgical removal. Together, it means you had your appendix surgically removed.
Just like the gearhead telling you to get a *Bondo or the master chef discussing a wonderful confit of duck, you can always [insert your favorite search engine] it. That’s okay for some things, but when it comes to your health, knowing the basics and how to look for accurate information is critical. The bottom line is, if you are uncertain what your healthcare provider is telling you, ask. It’s easy to forget when you are an experienced chef, mechanic, or healthcare professional, that language is important. Jargon can be fun if you know the roots!
*And if you are curious about Bondo—according to carbuzz.com, Bondo is gearhead-speak for a cheap fix. Bondo is a brand of polyester putty used to fix all kinds of problems. It's like duct tape, but for cars. Duct tape can also be used to fix 90% of the problems Bondo is used for. "Just Bondo that…!" is something you'll often hear in a garage.
Teresa Pulvermacher, FNP-C
President, ViaroHealth
For questions or comments, contact wellness@viarohealth.com