Spelling & Pronunciation

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Amos Miller
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1 Spelling & Pronunciation Question 1: What are examples of medical terms with silent and differently pronounced letters? Examples of silent and differently pronounced letters (Leonard, 2000): pneumonia (new-moh-nee-ah): The letters pn are pronounced with the sound of the letter n and the letter p is silent. operation: The tion is pronounced as shun. pharmacy: The letters ph are pronounced as the letter f. diaphragm (dye-ah-fram): The letters ph are pronounced as the letter f and the letters gm are pronounced as m and the letter g is silent. Question 2: What are examples of medical term abbreviations? There are standard acronyms and abbreviations used across the medical community; however, each area of medicine (e.g., cardiology, neurology, psychiatry, surgery, etc.) also develops its own internal abbreviations. Abbreviations, therefore, need to be used with caution. Female is often abbreviated as F. Male is often abbreviated as M. Gynecology is abbreviated as gyn or GYNE. STAT is an abbreviation for immediately. Oxygen is abbreviated as O2. Question 3: What are examples of medical term acronyms? Acronyms are a kind of abbreviation that are specifically derived from the first letters of the words they represent, and they should be used with caution because they can be mistaken for other terms. An acronym is often used to document findings from a history and physical examination such as the following: HEENT is a common acronym meaning head, eyes, ears, nose, and throat. c/o means complains of. TPR B/P means temperature, pulse rate, respiration rate, and blood pressure.

2 Illnesses are often composed of acronyms. The following are some examples of this: AIDS means acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. UTI means urinary tract infection. MI refers to myocardial infarction. Many lab tests also have acronyms, including the following: A complete blood count is written CBC. Red blood cells are noted as RBCs. Electrocardiogram and is often written EKG or ECG. Question 4: What are examples of structural anatomy terms? There are anatomical terms specific to each body system as well as general terms of gross (or overall) anatomy. Basic parts of the body (wrist, chest, breast, thigh, etc.) have specific anatomical terms. The medical term for wrist is carpal (kar-pul), the term for chest is thoracic (thoh-ras-ick), the term for breast is mammary, and the term for thigh is femoral (feem-or-ul). Many of these anatomical medical terms have also become part of the common language. Question 5: What are examples of medical terminology for problems or procedures associated with structural anatomy? A medical problem associated with the wrist is carpal tunnel syndrome. That refers to problems with nerves and muscles in the wrist area. A femoral neck fracture is a fractured hip where the break is near the top of the femur, or thigh bone, close to where it connects with the pelvis. A medical procedure that involves cutting into the chest is called a thoracotomy (thoh-rah-kot-toh-mee). A mammogram is a specialized X-Ray of a woman s breast to detect abnormalities. Question 6: What are examples of medical terms relating to directional terminology? Clinicians use terms to describe how well the body can move in different directions to help diagnose or describe medical problems. This information can also be used to describe the location of medical problems, to describe how a patient should be

3 positioned for medical procedures, or to assist in a patient's recovery. Common terms used to describe a patient s position are supine and prone. Supine (suepine) means to be lying on one's back face-up, and prone (prohn) means lying facedown. A mnemonic device to remember this is to think supine, then spine, and lying on one's spine (e.g., on one's back). When clinicians refer to a specific body part, they may refer to right or left as in the patient s right or left arm. When clinicians refer to a location on the body, they more commonly use the term lateral or medial from a particular point of reference. Imagine a line drawn through a person standing upright from top to bottom; this is termed the midline (Davies, 2002). Something anatomically located on the body, perhaps pain, a wound, or a finger, is lateral in reference to the midline when it is located away from the midline. Something anatomically located on the body is medial in reference to the midline when it is closer to the midline. For example, the "small toe is lateral to the big toe, and the big toe is medial to the small toe" (Davies, 2002). The small toe, then, is farther from the midline than the big toe, and the big toe is closer to the midline than the small toe. The directional terms distal and proximal describe locations from top to bottom. When distinguishing between distal and proximal, think of distal as distant and farther away. For example, a patient can have a rash distal to the wrist. That means the patient s rash is away from, or above, the point of reference being the wrist. If the rash is proximal to the wrist, it would be close to (or below) the wrist. Question 7: What are some other examples of surgical suffixes? Surgery can sometimes be diagnostic, and there are several suffixes commonly used with surgical or diagnostic procedures. For example, the suffix centesis refers to both a surgical and diagnostic procedure meaning to puncture or tap (Cohen, 2004). The puncture is done with an instrument, which is then used to remove abnormal accumulation of fluid in a body cavity. A paracentesis (par-ah-cen-tee-sis) is used to remove abnormal excess fluid in the space surrounding the intestines. This helps alleviate uncomfortable symptoms the patient may be experiencing and serves as a surgical procedure in that regard. It is also diagnostic because the removed fluid is sent to the lab for analysis to help the physician determine the cause of and how to stop the abnormal fluid from recurring. The suffix ectomy is another frequently used suffix meaning to surgically remove (excise) something. In the term tonsillectomy, the root tonsill means tonsil and the suffix ectomy means to surgically remove; the term s meaning is the excision of the

4 tonsils. Another suffix that is a surgical procedure is stomy. This suffix means "surgical creation of an opening" (Cohen, 2004). Look at the medical term tracheostomy where the root is trache with a combining vowel o and the suffix stomy; the term means creating an opening in the trachea. Creating this opening for a person with airway obstructions in the trachea enables him or her to breathe. Question 8: How can roots be combined with the same surgical suffix to form new, but similar, words? There are a number of organs that can be surgically removed from the body; the appendix is one example. In the term appendectomy (ap-en-dek-toh-mee), the suffix ectomy means to surgically remove and the root append means appendix. Adding the root hyster, meaning uterus, to the suffix ectomy forms the term hysterectomy (hiss-teh-rek-toh-mee) is formed, meaning surgical removal of the uterus. Adding the root splen, meaning spleen, to the suffix ectomy forms the term splenectomy (spli-neck-toh-mee), meaning surgical removal of the spleen. Question 9: What are some examples of diagnostic suffixes? A common diagnostic suffix is graph or graphy. The suffix graph refers to an instrument for recording data; the suffix graphy refers to the act of recording data. The record of that data is referred to by the suffix gram (Cohen 2004). The following are examples: An electrocardiograph (ee-lek-troh-kar-dee-oh-graf) is a device that will measure electrical signals associated with heartbeats. An electrocardiogram (ee-lek-troh-kar-dee-oh-gram) is the record of that data and the subsequent analysis for diagnostic purposes. Electrocardiography (ee-lek-troh-kar-dee-og-rah-fee) is the act of recording data. Often the term electrocardiogram serves a dual function; it is used for both the act of recording and for the record of data, and it is referred to as EKG or an ECG. References Cohen, B. J. (2004). Medical terminology: An illustrated guide (4th ed.). Philadelphia:

5 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. Davies, J. J. (2002). Essentials of medical terminology (2nd ed.). Albany, NY: Delmar. Leonard, P. C. (2000). Quick & easy medical terminology (3rd ed.). Philadelphia: W.B. Saunders.

Medical Terminology: The Language of Medicine

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