SAMPLE COURSE TABLE OF CONTENTS

Word Building - Introduction
Word Building Basics
Word Building Basics (cont)
Word Building Review
Word Building Components
Prefixes
Suffixes
Root Words
Pronunciation of Terms
Exercise I - Term Division
Exercise II - Term Meanings
Sample Test
Evaluation

LEARNING TOOLS
Course Flash Cards
Component Glossary
Component Glossary Flash Cards

WORD BUILDING BASICS

Medical terms are like individual jigsaw puzzles. There are component parts in each and every medical term, and once you have learned the individual meanings of the basic component parts, you will then be able to comprehend many medical terms not a part of this course. The component-parts technique is called Word Building. Word building is like having a set of Lego’s® and fitting them together until you have created a recognizable design. Think of word building as the same thing except you're creating medical terms. It’s a building-block technique, putting together different components to arrive at a single basic term.

The key to ‘word building’ is in the basic components of each medical term. Most medical terms are formed by a combination of 2 or 3 basic components or parts. Knowing how to divide a medical term is the first step. Knowing the meaning of the term’s components is the second step. Understanding these two basic keys is your foundation of 'word building'.

The basic components (parts) of medical terms are:

Prefix   Is a small part added to the beginning of a term, to change or modify the meaning of  the term.
     
Root  

Gives the essential meaning of the term. It is a word that can stand alone and has a meaning.
     
Suffix   Is the word’s ending.It can be a letter or group of letters placed after the root word to change or modify the word’s meaning.
     
Necessary component parts to connect the roots with suffixes and make the medical terms pronounceable:
     

Combining Vowel

   Connects root words to suffixes and root words to other root words.
     

Combining Form

   Is the combination of the root and combining vowel.
 
EXAMPLE:  Constructing a medical term:  HEMAT /O / LOGY
    Root  

Combining vowel

   Suffix  

• To analyze a medical term, begin at the end of the word. The ending is called the suffix. All medical terms contain suffixes.

• The suffix in the above word is ‘LOGY’, which means “study of”.

• Next, find the root of the word that gives the term’s essential meaning. In the term HEMATOLOGY, the root word is ‘HEMAT’. This means “blood”.

• Finally, what connects the root and suffix together making it a pronounceable term is the combining vowel, which in this term, is the letter ‘O’. The combining vowel has no meaning of its own but is an important connector between the root (HEMAT) and the suffix (LOGY).

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