Vocabulary Study Guide for the HESI Exam

Medical Prefixes and Suffixes

In addition to becoming familiar with the root or base words in medicine, you will often find prefixes and suffixes added to those words. Just like regular affixes, they are placed at the beginning or end of words, respectively.

Common Medical Prefixes

In the medical field, prefixes are usually used to describe the state of a patient or a procedure. Here is a list of the most common medical prefixes and their meanings:

Prefix	Meaning
a/ah	without
arteri	artery
arthro	bone joint
bi	twice/double
carcin	cancer
chol	bile
cis	on the same side of
crani	head/skull
cyt	cell
derm	skin
ect	outer/outside
ferri	iron
gyn	woman
hema	blood
hist	tissue
hyster	uterus
kerat	cornea
kinesi	movement
lacto	milk
leuko	white
mast	breast
melan	black
necro	death
onco	tumor
osseo	bone
pan	all/entire

Common Medical Suffixes

Like traditional suffixes, medical suffixes are used to bring further clarity to a root word and are attached to the end of a root word. These words are frequently applied to words to denote an operation or procedure. The most common medical suffixes are identified as follows:

Suffix	Meaning
ac/acal	of/pertaining to
aemia	blood condition
algia	pain
centesis	surgical puncture
crine	to secrete
cyte	cell
dynia	pain
ectasis	expansion/dilation
ectomy	surgical procedure/removal
genic	formative
gnosis	knowledge
graph	record/picture
iasis	condition
iatry	field of medicine
icle	small
ismus	spasm/contraction
itis	inflammation
lysis	destruction/separation
oma	mass/collection
penia	deficiency
pepsia	digestion/digestive tract
plasty	repair/reconstruction
plexy	stroke/seizure
rrhagia	rapid flow of blood
scopy	viewing
tensive	pressure