University:
West Coast University
Course:
HA 100 | Medical Terminology
Academic year:

2023
Views:

324

Pages:

2
Author:

Zoie Hudson

Diacritical marks indicate the sound of the vowels contained within the medical term. Macron and Breve. Macron (-) is the mark over the letter indicating a long vowel sound. ō Some of the words that have the macron are rate, gene, sinus, ovary, and granular. Breve is a (ă) is the mark over the letter indicating a short vowel sound. Some of the words that have the breve are abscess, hyperthermia, ilium, osteoma, and fracture. For letters ae and oe together, only the second vowel (e) is pronounced. Some examples are bursae, pleurae, roentgen. The soft sounds of s and j are given to c and g respectively before the letters e, l, and y in words of Greek or Latin origin. Some examples are "s" sound in cerebrum, circumcision, cycle. "j" sound in gel, gingivitis, giant, gyrate. Before other letters, c and g have a hard sound Some examples are cardiac, cast, gastric, gonad. The letters ch are sometimes pronounced like "k" some examples are cholesterol, cholera, cholemia. When pn appears at the beginning of a word, the p is silent and the n is pronounced pneumonia, pneumotoxin When pn appears in the middle of a word, the p and the n are pronounced orthopnea, hyperpnea When ps appears at the beginning of a word, the p is silent and the s is pronounced psychosis, psychology When forming the final letter (s) of a word, e and es are commonly pronounced as separate syllables syncope, systole, nares. When the letter (i) appears at the end of a word (to form a plural), it is pronounced eye bronchi, fungi, nuclei 3 rules for building a medical word 1. a word root links a sufÏx that begins with a vowel. 2. A combining form (CF) links a sufÏx that begins with a consonant. 3. A combining form (CF) links one root to another to form a compound word (and holds true even if the second root begins with a vowel). 3 rules when defining a medical term 1. always define the sufÏx first. 2. Define the first part of the word next (could be a prefix, a word root or a CF). 3. Define the middle part of the word last.