Four Kinds of Pieces

Every medical word breaks down into a small set of building blocks.

Think of a medical word as a short instruction.

• The root names the main subject: cardi means heart.
• A prefix modifies the subject: peri means around.
• A suffix tells you the kind of event: itis means inflammation.
• A combining vowel, usually o, helps the pieces connect.

peri/card/itis therefore gives you "inflammation around the heart." Natural medical English calls that inflammation of the sac around the heart.

Start with the suffix because it tells you whether you are hearing an inflammation, condition, blood finding, tumor, pain, disease, test, or procedure.