Medical terminology, no matter how complex it may appear, can be decoded by using word roots deriving from Greek and Latin. Like all words, anatomical terms are composed of one or more roots. These may be preceded by prefixes and/or followed by suffixes. Determination of the root meaning will usually establish a main thrust of the term. Many roots, prefixes and suffixes will occur repeatedly in anatomical terminology. Read more about the etymology of anatomical terms. 

Print a pdf version of this list.