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Medical Terminology · Chapter 1

The Term Builder

Every medical word is a root naming a structure, a suffix saying what is happening to it, an optional prefix adjusting position or degree, and a combining vowel holding it together. Pick parts from the four menus and watch the word assemble itself — then switch to Build to order and construct the term a chart would actually use.
Prefix optional · position, number, time, degree
Word root required · names the structure
Second root optional · long terms list roots in anatomical order
Suffix required · decides what kind of word this is

Your term, part by part

Choose a root and a suffix to begin. A root alone is not a word — you never say “cardi” or “nephr.”
prefixrootcombining vowelsuffix

Where the combining vowel went

Nothing built yet. The vowel — almost always o — exists only to make the joint pronounceable, so it appears and disappears according to what sits on either side of it.