Language/Modern-greek-1453/Vocabulary/Greek-Roots-in-Medecine

Hello Greek learners,

Medical terminology, however complex it may be, can be decoded by familiarizing yourself with the roots of words deriving in particular from the Greek language.

This lesson concerns general concepts (diseases, colors, position).

This list is not exhaustive: it details some of the most frequently used words. Knowing them will open up a whole new world to you, as you can get a feel for what doctors are talking about, before you even find the definition or ask for further explanation.

Happy learning!😀

Take some time to dive into these other pages after completing this lesson: City, Time Seasons Days Months, Medical terminology Greek & Restaurant.

Colors

Color	Greek root	Example
black	melano-	melanocyte
blue	cyano-	cyanosis
gray	polio-	poliomyelitis
green	chlor(o)-	chlorephidrosis
purple	porphyr(o)-	Porphyroblast/uropurpurin
red	erythr(o)-, rhod(o)-	erythrocyte/rhodopsin rubella
red-yellow	cirrh(o)-	cirrhosis
white	leuc-, leuk-	leukocyte/albinuria
yellow	xanth(o)-	xanthemia/medulla ossium flava

Diseases

Disease	Greek root	Example
abnormal condition	-iasis	amebiasis (infection with or other pathogenic ameba, amebic dysentery.)
abnormal fear	-phobia	aquaphobia
abnormal softening	-malacia	arteriomalacia (Softening of the arteries)
pain	-algia -dynia	cheiralgia (pain in the hand), gastrodynia or gastralgia (any stomach pain )
ambryonic/immature	-blast	blastocyst (are the specialized extracorporeal issues )
condition of	-sis -y	actinobacillosis epilepsy
dilation, expansion	-ectasis	atelectasis (collapse of the lungs, as from bronchial obstruction)
disease	-pathy	acropathy (any disease of the extremities)
disintegration	-lysis	aminolysis (is reactions involving the cleavage of chemical bonds)
displacement	-ectopia	neurectopia (dislocation of a nerve trunk; a nerve follows an anomalous course)
drooping	-ptosis	glossoptosis (posterior displacement of the tongue into the pharynx)
enlargement	-megaly	hepatomegaly
excessive abnormal flow	-rrhage, -rrhagia	hemorrhage, salpingorrhagia (hemorrhage from a uterine tube)
flow; discharge	-rrhea	glycorrhea (discharge of sugar from the body)
formation, development	-plasm -plasia	cytoplasm (cell substance between the cell membrane and the nucleus) displasia (abnormal development of the tissues)
hardening	-sclerosis	encephalosclerosis (hardening of the brain)
hernia, protrusion	-cele	bronchocele (dilatation of a bronchus, goiter, especially a cystic goiter)
inflammation	-itis	dermatitis
narrowing	-stenosis	gastrostenosis
paralysis	-plegia	iridoplegia (paralysis of the sphincter of iris.iridoparalysis)
presence of blood	-emia	acnemia
produces, generates	-genesis	antiketogenesis (biochemical process through which organisms bodies by breaking down fatty acids and ketogenic amino acids)
producing	-genic	algogenic (allodynia, hyperalgesia)
rupture	-rrhexis	myorrhexis (tearing of a muscle)
state, condition	-ia; -ism	acetonemia (an excess of ketone bodies in the blood)
substance in urine	-uria	citrullinuria (enhanced urinary excretion of citrulline; a manifestation of citrullinemia)
swelling	-edema	cephaledema
tumor, mass	-oma	acrospiroma (tumor of the up distal dermal segment of a sweat gland)
unusual or diseased condition	-osis	acanthosis (diffuse hypertrophy or thickening of the prickle cell layer of the skin)
vomiting	-emesis	melenemesis (vomiting of dark-coloured or blackish material)
weakness	-paresis	enteroparesis

Description

Description	Greek Root	Examples
above	epi-	epidermic/suprascapular
across, through	dia	diacetyl/transretinal/per os
all, total	holo-	holocrine gland
around/surrounding	peri-	peripapillary/circumarticular
away from deriving from	apo	apocrine desensitize
bad, incorrect	cac(o)-, dys-	cacosmia,dyspepsia malabsorption
before	ante-	antebrachium preanesthetic/prochordal
behind, after	meta	metacarpum/postaxial
bent, crooked	ankyl(o)-	ankyloglossia
big, huge, large	mega-, megal(o)-	atriomegaly/magnification
broad, wide	eury-	eurycephalic/latissimus dorsi
cold	cry(o)-	cryoanesthesia/frigidity
dead	necr(o)-	adiponecrosis/antemortem
different, additional	hetero-	cardiac heterotaxia
double	diplo-	diploneural/duplication
equal	iso-	anisodactyly/equinovalgus
equal	is(o)-	isoantibody/equiaxial
FALSE	pseud(o)-	pseudoarthrosis
fast	tachy-	tachyarrythmia/pulsus celer
female, feminine	thely-	thyeligenic
few	oligo-	oligoamnios/paucisynaptic
flat	platy-	platyglossal/planigraphy
good, well	eu-	eucholia/beneceptor
great	mega-, megal(o)-	acromegalia/magnification
half	hemi-	hemianopia/semicircular
hard	scler(o)-	atherosclerotic/dura mater
heavy	bar(o)-	bariatrics/gravida
hollow	coel(o)-	coelomycete/cavity
huge	megal(o)-	megalocardia/magnocellular
Inside, within	endo-	endoscopy
irregular	poikil(o)	osteopoikilosis
left	levo-	levocardia/sinistrocular
less	hypo-	hypovolemia
little	micro	microscope
long	macr(o)-	macroadenoma/caput longum
many, much	poly-	polyadenous/multiarticular
middle	mes(o)-	acromesomelia
more, in excess	hyper-	hypertension
narrow	sten(o)-	aortostenosis/aorta angusta
new	neo-	neoblastic/de novo
normal, correct, straight	orth(o)-	orthopedics/rectum
old	paleo-	paleocortex/veterans
one	mono	monoamelia/unilateral
outside	ec- exo	ectopic/exocrine extrabuccal
part, partly	mero	merocline gland
proto	First, most important	protoerythrocyte
right	dexi(o)-	dexiocardia/dextrogastria
sharp	oxy-	paroxysm/acute
short	brachy-	brachycardia/brevicollis
slow	brady-	bradycinesia/tardive
small	micr(o)-	microadenoma/pulsus parvus follicle/nodule
soft	malac(o)-	malacoplakia/fibroma molle
thick	pachy-	acropachy/crassamentum
twice/two	dis-	disomy/bisacromial
underneath	hypo-	hypoglossal/subcutaneous
varied, various	poikilo-	poikiloblast/acne varioliformis
well, good	eu-	eudipsia/benign

Sources

• https://www.pocketanatomy.com/teaching-anatomy/the-anatomy-of-medical-jargon

Other Lessons

• Geography
• Old words still valid
• House
• Count to 10
• Beach
• Χώρες Γλώσσες Εθνικότητες
• Vegetables
• Introductions and greetings in Modern Greek
• Useful Sentenses
• Kitchen
• Animal
• Hotel
• Countries (Xwres Χώρες)
• Education
• Clothes