Anatomical and Medical Prefixes and Suffixes
Learning anatomy for the first time can sometimes feel like learning a new language. Students often not only have a large amount of content to learn, but also struggle to make meaning of the language associated with that content. The wonderful thing about this language however, is that in many cases, the names of anatomy related content are incredibly helpful if you just understand that often the words can be broken down into different parts that have meanings. For example, the subclavian artery. The name tells you of its location and hints also at the path of this blood vessel. Sub – meaning below, clavian – relating to the collarbone or in anatomical terms, the clavicle. Another example, arthr – meaning joint, and itis – meaning inflammation. There are numerous examples like these!
Often parts of a word that have different meanings will be linked together. For example, brachioradialis, a muscle in the arm, can be broken down into two parts that have meaning, and a linking vowel, in this case ‘o’. Brachi meaning arm, and radialis referring to one of the bones in the forearm, the radius. The linking vowel is most commonly ‘o’, but other vowels may also be used to link parts of a word together.
To make learning this language easier, this article takes some of the more commonly used prefixes and suffixes, puts them into categories and then provides the meaning, and examples. For instance, in the previous two examples, ‘sub’ would be found in the location-related category, and ‘arthr’ would be found in the body region-related category. Within each category, the prefixes will be listed in alphabetical order.
Organ/region/structure
abdom- |
the abdomen transversus abdominis (abdominal muscle) |
aden- |
adenocarcinoma (tumor in a gland) |
adip- |
fat/fatty tissue adipocyte (fat cell) |
adren- |
the adrenal glands adrenal artery |
andro- |
male androgens (male hormones) |
angi- |
blood vessels angiotensin (hormone causing constriction of blood vessels) |
arteri- |
arteries arteriole (small, oxygen carrying, blood vessel) |
arthr-, articul- |
arthritis (inflammation of a joint), articulation (joint between two parts, typically bones) |
axill- | axillary nerve |
brachi- |
the arm brachioradialis (muscle that originates in the arm) |
bronch(i)- |
the lungs bronchitis (inflammation in the lungs) |
capit-, cep-, ceph- |
the head rectus capitis muscle, quadriceps muscle, brachiocephalic artery (supplies blood to the arm and head) |
cardi-, coron- |
the heart great cardiac vein (a vein draining the heart muscle), coronary artery |
carp- |
the wrist carpal bones (bones after the wrist joint) |
cerebr-, encephal- |
the brain cerebrospinal fluid (fluid circulating around the brain and spinal cord), encephalitis (inflammation of the brain) |
cervic- |
the neck cervical spine, cervix (neck of the uterus) |
cholecyst- |
the gallbladder cholecystectomy (removal of the gallbladder) |
chondr- |
chondromalacia (softening of the cartilage) |
cyst- |
cystic duct (vessel leading to/from the gallbladder) |
clav-, cleid- |
collar bone clavicle, sternocleidomastoid (neck muscle) |
col-, colo-, colono- |
colonoscopy |
condyl- |
a knuckle/knob femoral condyle (bony prominence at the knee joint) |
cost-, pleur- |
the ribs costal cartilage (cartilage between ribs and sternum) |
cran- |
the skull cranium (bones that encase the brain) |
cut-, derm- |
the skin cutaneous nerve, dermis (layer of skin) |
cyt- |
cytoplasm (fluid within a cell) |
dendr- |
tree dendrites (branches of a nerve cell) |
digit- |
the fingers flexor digitorum superficialis (muscle in the forearm) |
enter- |
the intestines enterology (study of the intestines) |
gang- |
collection of nerve cell bodies (Greek for ‘a swelling’) dorsal root ganglion |
gastro- |
the stomach gastric ulcer (ulcer in the stomach) |
gloss-, glott-, lingu-, lingu- |
the tongue |
glut- |
buttocks |
gyno-, gyneco- |
woman gynecomastia (enlarged breast tissue in men) |
hemat-, hemato-, hema-, hemo- |
hematocrit (red blood cell content of blood) |
hepat- |
the liver hepatocytes (main functional cells of the liver) |
kary- |
karyote (cell with a nucleus) |
lumb- |
loin, lower spine region lumbosacral plexus (nerves arising from the lumbar and sacral regions of the spine) |
muscul-, myo- |
muscle musculocutaneous nerve, myofibril (muscle fiber) |
myel- | myelencephalon (embryonic division of the central nervous system) |
neph-, ren- |
the kidney nephritis (inflammation of the kidney), renal artery |
neuro- |
nerves and the nervous system neuroanatomy (anatomy of the nervous system) |
occipit- |
back of the head external occipital protuberance |
ocul-, ophthalm- | the eye oculomotor nerve, ophthalmic artery |
omo- |
shoulder |
onco- |
tumor |
osse-, ossi-, ost(eo)- |
bone |
pect- |
chest |
ped- |
foot |
plant-, sole-, tars- |
sole of foot |
pne(um)-, pneumon-, pulmon-, pulmo- |
the lungs |
poll- |
thumb |
poplit- |
knee joint, behind the knee |
spin-, spondyl- |
the spine/vertebrae |
splen- |
the spleen |
tal- | |
thorac- |
chest region |
thromb- |
blood clot thrombus |
vas-, vasculo- |
blood vessel |
ven-, (phlebo) |
veins, venous blood |
viscer- |
the internal organs |
Location
ambi-, amphi- |
on both sides, double |
bas- |
pertaining to the base |
caud- |
tail caudal |
cort- |
outer region, bark cerebral cortex (outer region of the brain), renal cortex (outer region of the kidney) |
di-, dia- |
between |
dors-, dors(i)- | pertaining to the back latissimus dorsi (superficial muscle of the back) |
e-, ec(to)-, ex(o)-, extra- | on the outside ectoderm (outer layer of embryologic germ cells), extradural (outside the dura mater) |
em-, en(do)- | inside, within embolism (a blockage inside a blood vessel), endocardium (within the heart) |
epi- | over, above, on top epidermis (top layer of skin) |
fore- | before or ahead forearm (part of the arm between the wrist and elbow) |
fron- | pertaining to the forehead frontal bone (skull bone that makes up the forehead) |
hypo- |
below |
infra- |
below |
inter- | between, among intercostal (between the ribs) |
intra- |
within |
ipsi- |
same |
juxta- | near to, beside or next to juxtaglomerular apparatus (beside the glomerulus) |
lat- |
side |
met-, meta- | after, change metacarpals (after the carpus or wrist) |
para- |
beside, next to |
peri- | surrounding, around peritoneum (serous membrane surrounding many abdominal organs) |
post- | after, behind posterior (to the back), post-mortem (examination of a body after death) |
pre-, pro- |
before |
radic- | the beginning or root of a structure, usually a nerve or vein radiculopathy (a pinched nerve root) |
retro- | backward, behind retroperitoneal (behind the peritoneum) |
sub- | beneath, under subclavian (under the clavicle) |
super-, supra- | above, over, superior to supraspinatus (a muscle above or superior to the spine of the scapula) |
trans- |
across |
ventro- | to the front ventral |
Movement/speed
ab- |
away from |
ad-, af- |
toward |
brady- |
slow |
circum- |
to go/move around something |
de- |
down |
ef- | away from efferent (movement away from the heart or brain) |
kine- |
movement |
tachy- |
fast |
trans- | something is moving, (also across) transfusion (movement of blood) |
Other attributes (size, shape, number etc.)
a-, an- |
not, without |
ankyl-, ancyl- |
crooked |
bi-, di-, |
two, double biceps brachii (muscle in the arm with two heads) |
cric- |
ring |
di-, dif-, dis- |
apart, separation dilation, dissection |
dys- | difficult, abnormal, defective dysentery (abnormal functioning of the intestines) |
eu- | good, true, new, eupnea (normal breathing) |
fasc- |
bandage |
fasci- |
bundle |
fenestr- |
window |
foram- | opening, hole foramen magnum |
hyper- |
excessive, above normal |
hypo- | low, below normal hypotension (below normal pressure in blood vessels) |
iso- |
equal isometric (re: muscle contraction = muscle contraction with no change in length) |
kyph- |
humped kyphosis (overcurvature in the thoracic spine) |
magn- |
great foramen magnus (hole in the occipital bone for the spinal cord) |
macro-, meg(a)-, megal(o)-, | large, enlargement macrophage (large cell), megaloencephaly (abnormally large brain) |
meat- |
passage acoustic meatus |
micr- |
small microorganism |
morph- |
shape morphology |
oligo- |
few oligodendrocytes (type of neural cell that form the myelin sheath in the central nervous system) |
parvo- |
small |
poly- | many, multiple polymyositis (inflammation in many muscles) |
pseud- | fake, false pseudostratified epithelium (not really layered) |
quad- | to make square, also four quadratus lumborum muscle, quadriceps (four headed muscle in the anterior thigh) |
rect- |
straight rectus femoris muscle |
sarco- | flesh-like, muscle sarcoma (tumor in connective tissue) |
scler- |
hard sclera (part of the eye) |
semi- | half, partly semitendinosus (one part of the hamstring muscle group) |
steno- |
narrow spinal stenosis (narrowing of the vertebral canal in which the spinal cord runs) |
styl- | pillar, stalk styloid process |
tect- |
roof optic tectum (most superior part of the midbrain) |
tel- | far off, distant telencephalon (embryologic division of the brain) |
tetan- | rigid, tense tetanus (rigidity in muscles) |
ter- | round, smooth teres major muscle |
tri- |
three tricuspid valve (located between the right atrium and ventricle of the heart) |
trochlea- |
pulley |
tuber- | bump, lump gluteal tuberosity (located on the femur, attachment site for gluteus maximus) |
uni- |
one unilateral (on one side) |
vag- | wandering, undecided vagus nerve |
vast- | large area, immense vastus lateralis muscle |