Day 001
01| Medical Word Elements
（1）Word root
（2）Combining form
（3）Suffix
（4）Prefix
Word Roots
1）the foundation of a medical term and contains its primary meaning
2）Most word roots are derived from Greek or Latin language
3）Greek roots are used to build words that describe a disease, condition, treatment, or diagnosis.
4）Latin roots are used to build words that describe anatomical structures
Combining Forms
1）created when a word root is combined with a vowel
2）known as a combining vowel, is usually an o, but sometimes it is an i. The combining vowel has no meaning of its own, but enables two word elements to be connected
Suffixes
1）a word element placed at the end of a word that changes the meaning of the word
2）usually describes a pathology (disease or abnormality), symptom, surgical or diagnostic procedure, or part of speech
Prefixes
1）a word element attached to the beginning of a word or word root
2）The prefix usually indicates a number, time, position, direction, or negation
3）Many of the same prefixes used in medical terminology are also used in the English language
02| Basic Guidelines
Defining and building medical words are crucial skills in mastering medical terminology. Following the basic guidelines for each will help you develop these skills.
03| Defining Medical Words
Three basic steps for defining medical words using gastroenteritis as an example.
1. Define the suffix, or last part of the word. In this case, the suffix -itis, which means inflammation.
2. Define the first part of the word (which may be a word root, combining form, or prefix). In this case, the combining form gastr/o means stomach.
3. Define the middle parts of the word. In this case, the word root enter means intestine.
When you analyze gastroenteritis following the three previous rules, the meaning is: inflammation (of ) stomach (and) intestine.
04| Building Medical Words
Rule #1 A word root links a suffix that begins with a vowel.
Rule #2 A combining form (root +o) links a suffix that begins with a consonant.
Rule #3 A combining form links a root to another root to form a compound word.
PS：毕业参加工作第三年了，感觉自己没有什么进步，所以最近开始学习医学英语，今天开始决定把每天的笔记写下来，供想学习的朋友参考，希望我可以一直坚持下去，加油！
注：上面的教材有电子版，有需要的小伙伴可以私信。