Question

Joe, a first-year nursing student, is wondering why it is necessary to learn the roots, suffixes, and prefixes of medical terms when he can simply memorize the actual medical terms. He comments that learning all the word components is a waste of time. Why is it important to learn word components?

Answer 1

Itll be smarter to know the affixes instead because then you can infer what the meaning is instead of having to memorize words

Answer 2

It is important to learn the prefixes and suffixes because it not only helps in improving the reading but it can also help to understand the term itself

In medical field, if u just learn the prefixes and suffixes and their meaning (because they are either Greek or Latin words), you don't need to memorize all the names of diseases and other terminology because you understand the components. For example 1 prefix or suffix can be used in many other places :

The suffix "genesis" is a Greek word, meaning to produce something. It can be used in many terms

• Osteogenesis
• Gametogensis
• Pathogensis

In all these words, we know something is being produced, even if we don't know the word, it gives us a hint.!