Lesson 3 Basic Components of Medical Terms

The main body or basic component of a word is called the ______ or _______ word.

All words have a stem. Even everyday words have stems. For example, in the words ‘singer,’ ‘writer,’ and ‘speaker,’ ‘sing,’ ‘write,’ and ‘speak’ are the stems. In medical terms such as hepatomone, gastrotome, and arthrotome, the hepat (meaning liver), gastr (meaning stomach), and arthr (meaning joint) are the _________.

Certain combinations of stems are hard to pronounce. This is often true when a stem ends in a consonant and the word part that is added to it also begins with a consonant. This awkwardness of pronunciation makes it necessary to insert a vowel called a combining vowel.

Certain combinations of stems or root words are difficult to pronounce, making it necessary to insert a vowel called a ________________.

The combining vowel is usually an _____________.

We find combining vowels in ordinary words. Instead of joining the two stems ‘therm’ and ‘meter’ directly, we insert the combining vowel ‘o’ and say ‘therm - 'o' meter.’

Instead of joining two stems or root words directly, we insert the combining vowel which is usually an _________.

In the word thermometer, ‘therm’ is the stem and ‘therm - o’ is the ________________.

In the word megalomania, ‘megal’ is the stem and ‘megal - o’ is ________________.

In the word stratosphere, ‘strat’ is the stem and ‘strat- o’ is the _______________.

The basic core of any word is the ________.

Combinations of stems are often difficult to pronounce. When the first stem ends in a consonant and the second word part begins with a consonant, we must insert a vowel called a __________ vowel.

The combination of a stem plus a combining vowel is known as the ______________.