HCA 220

Axia College Material

Appendix C

Building a Medical Vocabulary Ch. 2

Complete activities A, B, & C.

A. Use the word bank below to build the medical word that corresponds to each definition in
problems 1-13. Click the grey box to begin typing.

-ior later/o- infer/o- umbilic/o-

-al dors/o- caud/o- inguin/o-
poster/o- -ar ventr/o- hypo-
medi/o super/o- -ad anter/o-
-ly gastr/o- lumb/o- -ic

1. Pertaining to the lower back Lumbar

2. Pertaining to below the stomach hypogastric

3. Pertaining to the naval Umbilical

4. Pertaining to the front part Anterior/Ventral

5. Pertaining to going toward the front part Anteriorly

6. Pertaining to the groin Inguinal

7. Pertaining to the back part Posterior

8. Pertaining to going toward the back part Posteriorly

9. Pertaining to going toward the middle Medially

10. Pertaining to going toward the side Laterally

11. Pertaining to above Superior

12. Pertaining to below Inferior

13. In the direction of the tailbone caudad

B. Define the following words or word parts.

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-ad Towards; in the -ior Pertaining to
direction of
-ics Pertaining to Ana- Apart from;
excessive
Prone Inclined downward Supine

viscera- Internal organs transverse A horizontal division

between the top and
bottom section of the
body
Hypo- Below; deficit Re- Again and again;
backwards; unable
to

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C. In this activity, break the medical word into its word parts. Using the word parts, create a
definition of the word. Write a sentence using the word in a medical context. Use the table to
record your answers.

Additional
Combining Combining
Medical Word form form or suffix Suffix Definition
Anteroposterior Moving from the outside body through
Anter/o- Poster/o- -ior the anterior section
Sentence: The doctor performed and anteroposterior chest x-ray to see if I had any broken ribs.

Midsagittal A vertical division at the midline dividing

Mid- Sagitt/o- -al the body into right and left halves
Sentence: The midsagittal plane divided the body into right and left halves.

Distally Moving from the body towards the end

Dist/o- -al -ly of a limb
Sentence: My son rubbed his arm distally to get the dirt off of him.

Moving from the end of a limb towards

Proximally the body where it is attached to the
Proxim/o- -al -ly body
Sentence: I shave my legs promixally to get a close shave.

Physiology The study of the functions and workings

Physi/o- -logy of those structures.
Sentence: While studying physiology I will learn how the body organs work and function.

HCA 220