These elements are prefixes, root words, combining vowels and suffixes, of which each term will be a combination. Words are formed by combining different base elements, usually from Latin, to accurately describe any possible conditions of the human body. The morphology of medical language works quite simply. In language, morphology refers to how words are formed and relate to other words. It’s basically the common language medical professionals use to quickly understand each other. It’s the specialised language of Western medicine, used to describe everything from the human body – its parts, processes, functions, dysfunctions and diseases – to all the medical procedures, interventions and pharmaceutical treatments. What is medical terminology? Medical terminology is the vocabulary of the medical profession. Whether or not you are a medical student, this article will give you a solid introduction to the topic.
The purpose of this article is to break down medical terminology so that you can begin to understand it. That is, once you grasp the basic framework, it becomes much easier to understand exactly what a term is referring to – no matter how complicated it looks. The truth is, like all specialised terminology, medical terminology has a system. It’s safe to say that this language can be difficult to understand, almost sounding like a foreign language. Everyone comes into contact with medical terminology at some point in their lives, whether during their own visits to the doctor or reading a medical document or report.