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17.2: Word Components Related to the Endocrine System

  • Page ID
    93999
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    This section will describe common word components related to the endocrine system. These word components help build definitions for many medical terms. Other common prefixes are described in Chapter 1.3, and common suffixes are described in Chapter 1.5.

    Prefixes Related to the Endocrine System

    • eu-: Good, normal
    • hyper-: Above, excessive
    • hypo-: Below, under, deficient
    • oxy-: Rapid, sharp, acid
    • pan-: All, total
    • para-: Around, beside, beyond, abnormal
    • poly-: Many or much
    • syn-: Joined, together
    • tetr-: Four
    • tri-: Three

    Word Roots With Combining Vowels Related to the Endocrine System

    • acr/o: Extremities, height
    • aden/o: Gland
    • adren/o: Adrenal glands
    • adrenal/o: Adrenal glands
    • calc/i: Calcium
    • cortic/o: Cortex, outer layer of a body organ
    • dips/o: Thirst
    • endocrin/o: Endocrine
    • glyc/o: Sugar
    • home/o: Sameness
    • kal/i: Potassium
    • myx/o: Mucus
    • natr/o: Sodium
    • parathyroid/o: Parathyroid gland
    • phys/o: Growing
    • pituitar/o: Pituitary gland
    • somat/o: Body
    • thyr/o: Thyroid gland
    • thyroid/o: Thyroid gland

    Suffixes Related to the Endocrine System

    • -drome: Run, running together
    • -ectomy: Excision, cut out
    • -emia: In the blood
    • -ia: Condition of, abnormal state, diseased state
    • -ism: State of
    • -itis: Inflammation
    • -logist: Specialist who studies and treats
    • -logy: Study of
    • -megaly: Enlarged, enlargement
    • -oid: Resembling
    • -oma: Tumor
    • -pathy: Disease
    • -plasia: Condition of, formation, development, growth
    • -tomy: Incision, cut into

    This page titled 17.2: Word Components Related to the Endocrine System is shared under a CC BY 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Open Resources for Nursing (OpenRN) .