Axia College Material

Appendix C

Building a Medical Vocabulary Ch. 2

Complete activities A, B, & C, and post to the Individual forum.

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

Lumbar 1. Pertaining to the lower back

2. Pertaining to below the stomach Hypogastric

3. Pertaining to the naval Umbilical

4. Pertaining to the front part anterior

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.

HCA 220
-ad Toward, in the -ior Pertaining to
direction of.
-ics Knowledge, practice Ana- Apart from;
excessive
Prone Latin: inclined Supine Latin: lying on the
downward; Lying w/ back; Lying with the
the anterior section, posterior section, or
or front, of the body back, of the body
down. down.
viscera- Internal organs of all transverse An imaginary
body cavities. horizontal plane that
divides the entire
body into top and
bottom sections.
Hypo- Below, deficient. Re- Again and again;
backward; unable to.

HCA 220
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 Prefix form form or suffix Suffix Definition
Anteroposterior Moving from outside the body through
the anterior section and then through
Anter/o- Poster/o- -ior the posterior section.
Sentence: When my daughter hurt her ribs in a wrestling tournament they took an anteroposterior chest x-ray
along with other angels as well.
An imaginary vertical plane that divides
Midsagittal the entire body into left and right
Mid- Sagitt/o- -al sections.
Sentence: The diagram was drawn along the midsagittal plane.

Distally Moving from the body toward the end of

Dist/o- -al -ly a limb (arm or leg).
Sentence: The pain was shooting distally along the patients leg.

Moving from the end of a limb (arm or

Proximally leg) toward where it is attached to the
Proxim/o- -al -ly body.
Sentence: When I shave my legs I move the razor proximally along my legs.

Physiology The study of the function and workings

Physi/o- -logy of the structures of the human body.
Sentence: I really enjoyed my Human Anatomy and Physiology class the first time I attempted college.

HCA 220