The medical terms cancer and carcinoma are derived from the Latin word "cancer" and the Greek word "karkinos", both of which mean crab. Ancient Greek physicians noted the behaviour of a crab was similar to the "behaviour" of a cancerous tumour. Just as a crab grabs its prey and does not let go, cancerous tumours are also very tenacious as they invade the body's tissues and spread, usually leading to death. In terms of modern usage, there are five basic types of cancer and carcinoma is the most common type. The term carcinoma literally means cancerous (carcin-) tumour (-oma).
2. cardi-, cardi/o
Answer: heart
Cardi- and cardi/o mean heart, from the Greek "kardia", also meaning heart. The adjective cardiac means pertaining to the heart; for example, a cardiac arrest occurs when the heart suddenly stops beating. A cardiac arrest is not the same thing as a "heart attack".
3. chondr-, chondr/o
Answer: cartilage
Chondr- and chondr/o mean cartilage. Cartilage is a type of connective tissue that is a component of the skeleton. An interesting example of usage is in the medical term "hypochondria". Hypochondria literally translates as "condition under the cartilage", referring to the rib cartilage.
The ancient Greeks believed that this was where your sense of well-being was located. So if you were the type of person who was overly concerned about your health or if you believed you were sick, despite evidence to the contrary, they reasoned that there was something wrong with you in this area of the body.
4. cephal-, cephal/o
Answer: head
The word parts cephal- and cephal/o refer to the head, from the Greek word "kephale", also meaning head. An example of usage is the term cephalalgia (pain in the head, or headache), as in "Not tonight dear, I have cephalalgia".
5. cerebr-, cerebr/o
Answer: brain
Cerebr- and cerebr/o are word parts that refer to the brain, from the Latin "cerebrum", also meaning brain. A cerebrovascular accident is the medical term for a stroke. It occurs when there is an interruption to the blood supply to the brain, usually because of a blockage in, or rupture of, a blood vessel.
This results in brain cells being deprived of oxygen, resulting in the death of those cells. The word cerebrovascular means pertaining to the brain and its blood vessels - cerebr/o (brain), vascul- (vessel), -ar (pertaining to).
The ancient Greek and Roman physicians did not always know the causes of illness so the term "accident" (from the Latin "accidens", meaning by chance) was used to indicate a medical event that happened unexpectedly.
6. cervic-, cervic/o
Answer: neck
The word parts cervic- and cervic/o mean neck, from the Latin word "cervix" meaning neck. The word neck was used to indicate a constriction or narrowing between two wider parts. Thus, medical words that use these word parts usually refer to the neck (the narrow structure connecting the head to the rest of the body) and the cervix (the neck of the womb, the narrow structure connecting the uterus and vagina). (The phrase "this neck of the woods" originally referred to a narrow piece of land).
7. -cide, -cidal
Answer: killing
Medical terms utilising these word parts are derived from the Latin "cidium", meaning killing. For example, spermicide (a contraceptive substance that kills sperm), fungicide (a drug that kills fungus), and germicide (chemical that kills germs).
8. contra-
Answer: against, opposite
The prefix contra- comes from the Latin word "contra", meaning against. Common examples include the words contraception and contraceptive, which mean "against conception". Another common medical term is contraindication. A contraindication is any medical condition that renders a particular type of treatment unsuitable for the patient; in other words, an indication against that form of treatment.
For example, many drugs are contraindicated if the patient is pregnant.
9. cryo-
Answer: cold
Cryo- is a prefix derived from the Greek word "kryos", meaning cold. Cryotherapy means treatment with cold. Cryosurgery involves using extremely cold substances (such as liquid nitrogen) to destroy unwanted, abnormal or diseased tissue. It is commonly used to treat or remove skin lesions such as skin tags, warts, moles, and solar keratoses (scaly, sun-damaged areas of skin).
10. -cyte, cyt-, cyt/o
Answer: cell
These word parts refer to cells, from the Greek "kytos" meaning vessel. Examples of usage include medical terms such as erythrocyte (red blood cell), leucocyte (white blood cell), thrombocyte (clotting cell) and osteocyte (bone cell). The human body has over 200 different types of cells so there are lots of medical terms ending in -cyte. Cytology is the study of cells.
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