Medical terminology may seem like a foreign language to many people. In fact, in many aspects it works as such. To get the meaning of medical terms, we need to break down each word into different parts.

A medical term consists of a prefix, the root word, and the suffix.

The prefix appears at the beginning of the word and tells us the how, why, where, when, how much, how many, position, direction, time, or status.

The root word indicates the part of the body in question.

The suffix, at the end of the word, specifies the procedure, condition, or disease.

Approximately 75 percent of all medical terms have Latin or Greek origin, so it always comes in handy to familiarize ourselves with the most commonly used prefixes, root words, and suffixes, so we can put everything together into one greater word meaning. 

Today, I’d like to list some special prefixes, which may look different but have the same meaning, such as:

Anti- and contra- (= against)

Dys– and mal- (=bad or painful)

Hyper-, supra-, and epi- (=above)

Hypo-, sub-, and infra- (=below)

Intra- and endo- (=within)

However, there are some other prefixes, which are trickier as they mean the opposite of each other, although they look or sound similar:

Ab- means away from (abduct), but ad- means toward.

Ante-, pre-, and pro- mean before, in front of, or preceding but post- means after, following, or behind.

Hyper-, supra-, and epi- mean above, but hypo-, infra- and sub- mean below.

Macro- means large, while micro- means tiny, small.

Tachy- means fast, but brady- means slow.

Hyper- may also mean excessive, while hypo- also means deficient.

Knowing the basic prefixes, root words, and suffixes is key to understanding the meaning of a medical term at first sight!