Final answer:
In medical terms, the suffix 'ar' in 'cardiovascular' does not have a separate meaning; instead, the word 'cardiovascular' as a whole pertains to the heart and blood vessels.
Step-by-step explanation:
The suffix 'ar' in the word cardiovascular does not stand indendently to define a specific meaning in medical terms, unlike prefixes and other suffixes that might refer to certain conditions or descriptions. Instead, 'cardiovascular' as a whole describes anything that is related to both the heart (cardio) and the blood vessels (vascular). The term is used extensively in medicine, for example, to refer to cardiovascular diseases (CVD), which are a class of diseases that involve the heart or blood vessels. CVD encompasses conditions like coronary artery diseases, strokes, and peripheral artery disease, with atherosclerosis being a leading cause of CVD. In the context of human anatomy and medical terminology, 'cardio-' refers to the heart and 'vascular' relates to the blood vessels, with the suffix 'ar' simply forming part of the latter term.