Common Disease Suffixes

In addition to prefixes and root words, the breakdown of common medical terminology must include attention to word endings, or suffixes. Similar to the common roots, these suffixes are rarely used outside of medical terminology, so we will only provide examples of medical terms. You may also notice that many suffixes have similar meanings. Once you familiarize yourself with the suffixes, prefixes, and roots, you can put it all together to easily decipher complicated terminology. Be sure to combine the tools presented in this blog with those in our other blogs on this subject, linked here:

Common Disease Prefixes

Root Words in Disease Names

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

Suffixes

Suffix	Meaning	Medical Example
-al	Pertaining to	Abdominal
-algia or -dynia	Pain	Neuralgia
-cele	Hernia, herniation, or pouching	Hydrocele
-centesis	Surgical puncture	Paracentesis
-cyte	Cell	Lymphocyte
-dipsia	Thirst	Polydipsia
-ectomy	Surgical removal	Nephrectomy
-emia	Blood condition	Leukemia
-genic	Producing or causing	Carcinogenic
-graphy	Process of recording	Cardiography
-ia or iasis	Condition	Pneumonia
-ist	Specialist	Dermatologist
-ism	Condition	Hypothyroidism
-itis	Inflammation	Bursitis
-logy	Study of	Neurology
-lysis	Destruction of or decomposition of	Dialysis
-megaly	Enlargement	Splenomegaly
-oma	Tumor	Lymphoma
-osis	Condition	Cyanosis
-pathy	Disease	Neuropathy
-penia	Lack or deficiency	Neutropenia
-phagia	Swallow or eat	Dysphagia
-phasia	Speech	Aphasia
-plasty	Surgical repair or reshaping	Abdominoplasty
-plegia	Paralysis	Hemiplegia
-pnea	Breathing	Apnea
-scopy	Visual examination	Colonoscopy
-stasis	Maintenance or maintaining balance	Homeostasis
-stomy or ostomy	Creation of an opening	Nephrostomy
-tomy	Incision or cut into	Craniotomy
-uria	Urine or urination	Hematuria