Question

An element located at the beginning of a medical word, before the word root is a:

a. word stem
b. combining vowel
c. word root
d. prefix
e. combining form

Answer 1

An element at the beginning of a medical word before the word root is called a prefix, which modifies the meaning of the root to provide additional context about the term.

Step-by-step explanation:

An element located at the beginning of a medical word, before the word root is known as a prefix. A prefix is used to modify the meaning of the word root, often describing location, number, or time. For instance, in the medical term 'hypertension', 'hyper-' is the prefix which means 'high' or 'over', and the word root is 'tension', which refers to pressure. Therefore, 'hypertension' refers to abnormally high blood pressure.