Page 16 - 633 102 Professional English for Pharmacists E-Course book

A suffix is a word element added after a root word to modify the basic meaning
of the word. In fact, a suffix, usually (but not always) tells us something about procedure,
condition, disorder or disease, especially in medical or pharmaceutical terms. To illustrate, let’s
look at a familiar medical term, cardiology. This term can be broken down into two word
elements:

cardio = heart o logy = study of
root word combining vowel/form suffix

The first word element is a combining form, cardio, which means heart. Note that cardio
consists of a root word (cardi) to which a combining vowel (o) has been added in order
to link it to a suffix that modifies its basic meaning. The suffix is logy, which means study of.
Thus, cardiology is the study of the heart.
Let’s look at another example, cardiac. This term can also be broken down into word elements:
cardi = heart ac = pertaining to
root word suffix

The root word cardi means heart and the suffix ac means pertaining to. Therefore,
cardiac is an adjective meaning pertaining to the heart. Note that root word cardi is used
rather than the combining vowel ‘o’ like cardio. Cardi is connected directly to the suffix
without a combining vowel because the suffix ac begins with a vowel i.e. ‘a’ rather than a
consonant. In general, the combining vowel is added only when linking a root word to
a suffix that begins with a vowel, the combining vowel is dropped. Thus, the correct term
is cardiac, not cardioac.

Another example of this rule can be found in the term vasculitis.
Vascul = blood vessels itis = inflammation
Root word suffix

The suffix itis means inflammation. Because it begins with a vowel, the root word vascul
is used rather than the combining form vasculo. Thus, the correct term is vasculitis, which
means inflammation of the blood vessels.

Many medical terms contain more than one combining form or root word linked to a
suffix. For example, the term cardiovascular is composed of three word elements:

cardio = heart vascul = blood vessels ar = pertaining to
combining form root word suffix

As the breakdown above suggests, the term cardiovascular means pertaining to the heart
and blood vessels. As you might expect, the first root word (cardi) is linked to the second
root word (vascul) by a combining vowel (o). As in the previous two examples, however,

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