Essential Medical Terminology

highly diverse language environments. Its goal is to introduce the language of medicine and

teach students basic Latin grammar and vocabulary they will need later in their studies and

future practices. The contents of this independent textbook have been tailored to the needs

of students with varying degrees of previous grammar knowledge; the book will serve mainly

as the source text for Medical Terminology courses, but it is also suited for self-study.

The first section of the textbook describes noun and adjective inflection, gradually

introducing students to the Latin declension system. The second part focuses on word

formation, a crucial component of medical terminology, which, in addition to Latin words,

often features words of Greek origin, compounds, and hybrid words. An overview of Latin and

Greek prefixes and suffixes further contributes to the reader’s understanding of specialized

medical terminology. The textbook also includes an introductory chapter on basic grammatical

categories and Latin pronunciation, as well as four review chapters that test the mastery of

the subject matter.

The following brief description of chapter structure will provide instructions on making

full use of the textbook. The introduction to each chapter features “keywords”, which are

to be linked to their English equivalents by the students, without prior explanation of their

respective meanings. Frequently encountered in medicine, the keywords have been selected

to represent particular grammatical elements discussed in class. Students are likely to

recognize and understand them based on similarities with their English counterparts, the use

of accompanying illustrations, or by a simple process of elimination.