Word Parts and Structural Terms
Combining Forms
adip/o: fat
albin/o: white
aut/o: self
bi/o: life
carcin/o: cancer, malignant
coni/o: dust
crypt/o: hidden
cutane/o: skin
cyan/o: blue
cyst/o: fluid-filled sac
cyt/o: cell
derm/o: skin
dermat/o: skin
erythr/o: red
heter/o: other
hidr/o: sweat
ichthy/o: fishlike, dry, scaly
kerat/o: hard, horny tissue, keratin
melan/o: black
myc/o: fungus
necr/o: death
onych/o: nail
pachy/o: thick
pil: hair
pruri/o: itch
reticul/o: net
rhytid/o: wrinkles
scler/o: hard
seb/o: oil/sebum
staphyl/o: grapelike clusters
strept/o: twisted chains
vascul/o: blood vessel
xanth/o, cirrh/o, jaund/o: yellow
xer/o: dryness, dry
Prefixes
a-: absence of
bi-: two or both
cryo-: cold
dia-: through, complete
dys-: difficult, painful, abnormal, labored
epi-: upon, on, over
hyper-: above, excessive
hypo-: deficient, below, under, incomplete
intra-: within, in
meta-: change, beyond, after
neo-: new
para-: beside, around, beyond, abnormal
per-: through
pro-: before
sub-: under, below
trans-: through, across, beyond
uni-: one
Suffixes
-a: no meaning, noun ending
-al: pertaining to
-ad: toward
-coccus: berry-shaped
-cyte: cell
-ectomy: excision
-gen: substance that produces/causes, agent that produces/causes
-genic: producing, originating, causing
-ia: condition of, diseased state, abnormal state
-ic: pertaining to
-itis: inflammation
-ior: pertaining to
-logy: study of
-logist: specialist who studies and treats
-malacia: softening
-megaly: enlarged, enlargement
-oid: resembling
-oma: tumor, swelling
-opsy: view of, process of viewing, viewing
-osis: abnormal condition, increased numbers relating to blood
-ous: pertaining to
-pathy: disease
-phagia: eating, swallowing
-plasia: development, growth, condition of formation
-plasm: growth, substance, formation
-plasty: surgical repair
-rrhea: flow, discharge
-sis: state of
-stasis: stop, controlling, standing
-tome: instrument used to cut
Structural Terms Built from Word Parts
adipocytes: fat cells
avascular: pertaining to no blood vessels
cutaneous: pertaining to the skin
dermal: pertaining to the skin
dermat: skin
dermatome: area of skin supplied by a single spinal nerve
epidermal: pertaining to on top of the skin
hypodermic: pertaining to below the skin (interchangeable with subcutaneous)
intradermal: pertaining to within the skin
keratinocytes: cell producing a hard protein
melanocyte: melanin-producing cell
percutaneous: pertaining to through the skin
phagocyte: cell that eats
reticular: pertaining to being net-like
sebaceous: pertaining to sebum (oil) / oil producing
subcutaneous: pertaining to below the skin (interchangeable with hypodermic)
subungual: pertaining to under the nail
transcutaneous: pertaining to through or across the skin
transdermal: pertaining to through or across the skin
ungual: pertaining to the nail
vascular: pertaining to / having blood vessels