Common Disease Prefixes

As you enter the medical field, the terminology may seem overwhelming. The origin of many disease names is Latin, which few people study these days. Luckily, if you become familiar with the common prefixes, roots, and suffixes, you can decipher even the most bizarre-sounding terms.

This blog covers the common disease prefixes that are often part of the disease name or term description. A prefix is a word part that precedes the root word. We also have information on roots and suffixes, as well as a review that puts all of these parts together. You can find them here:

Common Disease Suffixes

Root Words in Disease Names

Making Sense of Disease Names: Roots, Prefixes, and Suffixes

Prefixes

Prefix	Meaning	Common Example	Medical Example
A-, an-, or ana-	Without or not	Anaerobic	Anemia
Ab-	Away from	Abnormal	Abduction
Ad-	Toward	Adhere	Adduction
Anti- or ant-	Opposite or against	Antagonist	Anticoagulant
Bi-	Two	Bidirectional	Bicuspid
Dys- or dis-	Bad, painful, or difficult	Dysfunctional	Dysphagia
Brady-	Slow	N/A	Bradycardia
Hemi-	Half or partly	Hemisphere	Hemiplegia
Hyper-	Excessive	Hypersensitive	Hyperthyroidism
Hypo-	Under or below	Hypocrite	Hypoxia
Post-	After or behind	Postscript	Postmortem
Pre-	Before	Prepubescent	Preeclampsia
Tachy-	Rapid or fast	N/A	Tachycardia

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