Musculoskeletal system terms
| Oste/o | Bone | Osteitis, osteoma, osteocyte |
| Chondr/o | Cartilage | Chondritis, chondroma, chondrocyte |
| Arthr/o | Joint | Arthritis, arthroplasty |
| Myel/o | Bone marrow | Myeloma |
| Ten/o, tendin/o | Tendon (binds muscle to bone) | Tendonitis, tenorrhaphy |
| Ligament/o | Ligament (binds bone to bone) | Ligamentous injury |
| Burs/o | Bursa, “bag”, (shock absorber between tendons and bones) | Bursitis |
| My/o, myos/o | Muscle | Myoma, myositis |
| -malacia | Softening | Osteomalacia, chondromalacia |
| -porosis | Porous | Osteoporosis |
| -asthenia | Weakness, loss of strength | Myasthenia gravis |
| -trophy | Development, stimulation, maintenance | Atrophy (shriveling of muscles), hypertrophy (increase in size and strength of muscles) |
| -algia, algesia | Pain | Myalgia, arthralgia, analgesia (take away pain |
I have long since stopped defining what “-itis” means, or “-oma.” Do you remember what “-plasty” means, or how about “-rrhaphy”? These word parts were introduced in previous modules. This program is all about building word roots, prefixes and suffixes into medical terms. The ultimate goal is for you to be able to figure out the meaning of new terms, or, at least, not be intimidated about looking it up in a medical dictionary.