Cheat sheet of medical terms

Many common medical terms make us afraid, overwhelmed or just too embarrassed to ask for explanations. We’ve all had the experience of being in the doctor's office or in the hospital and not understanding some of the medical terms being discussed. But if we don't know what the doctor just said, we can't effectively contribute to our own health care. Bottom line: it's important that you understand clearly what your physician is saying. No need to be embarrassed - medical professionals want you to understand what’s going on so that you can better contribute to your recovery.

What follows is a medical "cheat sheet" of some - but not all - common medical terms. Feel free to print out this quick reference guide and take it with you to your doctors' appointments. Want more? Pick up the Webster’s New World Medical Dictionary or go online to explore common medical terms and their meanings at medicinenet.com.

Before you review the terms below, take a moment to understand the pattern used to create them. Basically, each term is made up of a root word plus a suffix. Breaking the term into these two parts can help you better decode its meaning.

The "root" word is the "object" of the ailment – the body part, for example. The suffix is the ending of the word and refers to some aspect of the root term. For example, the suffix, "pathy," means disease. So, when you see a word ending in "pathy," it’s referring to a disease, as in nephropathy, which means disease of the kidney (nephro). There are a number of suffixes or endings to medical terms that simply mean “pertaining to” and they are: -ac, -al, -ary, -ic, -ical, -ous, -tic and -ar. For example, cardiac means pertaining to the heart, venous means pertaining to the vein and pelvic means pertaining to the pelvis.

With this background info in mind, here's our list of common medical terms:

Root word for body parts	What it means	Examples
cardi	Heart	Cardiac arrest (heart stopping)
coli	Large intestine or colon	Colitis (inflammation of the colon)
derm	Skin	Dermatologist (doctor specializing in skin)
duodeno	Small intestine	Duodenum (first part of small intestine)
encephal	Brain	Encephalitis (inflammation of brain).
gastro	Stomach	Gastroenteritis (stomach flu)
hemo/a	Blood	Hemodialysis (dialysis machine filters waste products from blood)
hepat	Liver	Hepatitis (inflammation of the liver)
myel	Spinal cord or bone marrow	Myelofibrosis (disorder of the bone marrow)
nephro	Kidney	Nephropathy (damage or disease of the kidney)
neur	Nerves	Neurotoxin (a substance that damages nerves)
opthal or ocul	Eye	Ophthalmologist (eye doctor)
oste	Bone	Osteoporosis (bones that become porous making them fragile)
phleb or ven	Vein	Intravenous (within a vein, e.g., IV therapy)
pneumo	Lung	Pneumonia (infection of the lung)

Suffix for conditions	What it means	Examples
-algia	Pain	Myalgia (muscle pain)
-it is	Inflammation	Cervicitis (inflammation of the cervix)
-lith	Stones or calcifications	Tonsillolith (tonsil stone)
-oid	Resemble	Fibroid (non-cancerous tumor of connective tissue)
-oma	Tumor	Lymphoma (cancer in lymphatic cells affecting the immune system)
-pathy	Disease	Nephropathy (disease of the kidney)
-phasia	Speech	Aphasia (without speech usually following a stroke)
-plegia	Paralysis	Hemiplegia (Paralysis affecting only one side of the body)
-rrhage	Burst forth	Hemorrhage (blood escaping from blood vessels)
-sclerosis	Hardening	Atherosclerosis (thickening of artery wall)

Suffix for surgery and procedures	What it means	Examples
-centesis	Tap or puncture to drain fluid	Amniocentesis (drawing fluid from amniotic sac)
-ectomy	Removal of	Mastectomy (surgical removal of one or both breasts)
-oscopy	To examine with a scope exploring the body cavity	Colonoscopy (examination of the colon)
-ostomy	Small surgical hole leading out of the body	Tracheostomy (incision in trachea)
-otomy	Large surgical opening	Ovariotomy (surgical incision of an ovary)
-tripsy	To crush	Lithotripsy (procedure to crush kidney stones)