John Hay
John Hay Biomedical
Student Hub · Go Hornets 🐝
My ClassGlossary
Human Anatomy & Physiology (Human Body Systems)
Unit 0: LaunchHBS LaunchMedical Terminology

Medical Terminology 2: Read the suffix first

The ending tells you what kind of thing a term names before you know any body part at all. Start at the back of the word.

Builds on (2 levels back)manual · high confidence
  • Medical Terminology 1: A long word is built from parts: You have to be able to find the seams before reading the last piece is any use.

Re-learn the skill with worked practice and clear examples.

The working set of endings splits into three groups: conditions somebody has, procedures somebody performs, and the people and records around them.

Step 1: Conditions
-itis is inflammation. -osis is an abnormal condition or process. -emia is a blood condition. -algia is pain. -megaly is enlargement. -penia is a shortage of something.
Step 2: Procedures
-ectomy is cutting something out. -otomy is cutting into something. -ostomy is making a lasting opening. -plasty is repairing or reshaping. -scopy is looking inside.
Step 3: People and records
-ologist is the specialist. -ology is the field. -graph is the machine. -graphy is the process of recording. -gram is the record that comes out of it.
Step 4: The pair that trips everyone
Cutting into something and making a lasting opening in it are different operations with different consequences, and the two endings differ by a single letter. Slow down when you meet either one.
Practice

Two patients have airway surgery on the same day. One chart records a tracheotomy and the other records a tracheostomy. What is the real difference between the two operations?

Approved
  1. A.One cuts into the windpipe; the other leaves a lasting opening in it.
  2. B.One is emergency surgery and the other is a planned airway scan.
  3. C.They are two accepted spellings of one operation and mean the same thing.
  4. D.One removes the whole windpipe; the other only inspects it with a scope.
Show the worked solution ▾

Answer: A. One cuts into the windpipe; the other leaves a lasting opening in it.

  1. Step 1: Strip the shared middle: Both words carry trache in the middle, so the middle cannot be what separates them. Everything hangs on the ending.
  2. Step 2: Split the two endings: One ends in a cutting-into ending. The other ends in a lasting-opening ending. That single letter is the whole difference.
  3. Step 3: Say what the patient wakes up with: A cut that is closed again leaves no permanent route into the airway. An opening that is kept open does.

Why it's right: The middle piece is identical in both terms, so the ending carries all the difference, and the two endings name cutting into versus creating a lasting opening.

Why the others miss:
  • B: Urgency is not carried by any ending; both operations can be either.
  • C: The endings are different endings with different meanings, not spelling variants.
  • D: Neither ending here means removal, and neither means examination with a scope.

Aligned to Medical Terminology: procedure suffixes · reading level ~grade 9

Where you'd see this
  • A discharge summary that says tracheostomy tells the home-care nurse there is a stoma to care for; tracheotomy does not.
Careers that use this
Respiratory Therapist: Plans airway care from the operative note, where one letter decides whether there is a permanent opening to manage.
Guided notes

Fill these in as you work through the lesson.

Big idea: The ending of a medical term names the category, so reading the last piece first tells you whether you are looking at a problem, an operation, a specialist, or a picture.
Key terms: write the meaning
  • -itis (inflammation):  
  • -ectomy (surgical removal):  
  • -ostomy (a lasting surgical opening):  
  • -scopy (looking inside):  
  • -gram (the record that comes out):  
The rule

Read a medical term back to front: the   first, then the front piece, then the middle. The ending tells you the   of thing the term names.

Check yourself
  1. Sort these endings into problems, operations, people, and records: -itis, -ectomy, -ologist, -graphy, -algia. 
  2. Two terms end in -otomy and -ostomy. What is the difference in what happens to the patient? 
  3. Why can you say something useful about a term before you know its middle piece? 
Work one example

A schedule lists bronchoscopy, splenectomy, and arthrography. Without looking up the body parts, write what KIND of event each one is, then say which one the patient goes home from with something missing.