suffix
Meaning of suffix: Attached at the end, it decides whether a term names a disease, a procedure, a specialist or a plain description.
Definition of suffix
A suffix is a word part attached to the end of a medical term that states what kind of thing the term is: a condition, a symptom, a procedure, an instrument, a field of study or a person who practices it. The root supplies the body part and the suffix supplies the category, so the ending is usually the fastest route into an unfamiliar term.
What does the ending tell a reader?
The category the word belongs to. A root such as arthr names a joint and nothing more; the ending decides whether the term describes a painful joint, an inflamed one, an operation on one, or the doctor who treats it. Reading a long term backward is therefore quicker than reading it forward. Take the ending first to learn what sort of word it is, then the root to learn which body part, then any prefix for the qualifier. Almost every term ends in a suffix, and a term without one is unusual enough to be worth noticing.
Which suffixes come up most often?
A short list covers a large share of the vocabulary, and the same handful reappears across every body system.
| Suffix | Category | Example | Reading |
|---|---|---|---|
| itis | condition | arthritis | inflammation of a joint |
| algia | symptom | myalgia | muscle pain |
| ectomy | procedure | mastectomy | removal of the breast |
| scopy | procedure | endoscopy | looking inside with an instrument |
| ologist | person | cardiologist | a doctor for the heart |
| pathy | condition | neuropathy | disease of the nerves |
Does the root change when a suffix is added?
Its spelling can. A linking vowel, nearly always an o, is inserted between root and suffix when the suffix begins with a consonant, and left out when the suffix begins with a vowel. That single rule explains why the same stomach root produces gastroscopy with an o and gastritis without one. The rule also explains pairs that look inconsistent at first glance, such as arthritis beside arthroscopy. Some endings are really two joined together, so neuropathy is disease of the nerves while a mastectomy report may describe the tissue removed in terms borrowed from several endings at once.
Also known as
Used in a sentence
The suffix at the end of the term identified it as a surgical procedure rather than a diagnosis.
Good to know
The ending carries the category rather than the body part, so two terms sharing a root can describe a symptom, a disease and an operation depending only on what follows the root.
Word origin
Where “suffix” comes from
Suffix comes from the Latin suffixus, fastened underneath or close to, from sub, meaning under, and figere, meaning to fasten.