Dictionary

Word parts

Prefixes, suffixes and roots: learn one and every word built from it becomes readable.

-sclerosisA word ending that means abnormal hardening of a tissue.

-scopeA word ending that means an instrument for looking or examining.

-scopyA word ending that means looking at or examining, usually with an instrument.

-sisA word ending that means a state, condition or process.

-spasmA word ending that means a sudden, involuntary tightening of a muscle.

-stasisA word ending that means stopping, slowing or staying the same.

-stenosisA word ending that means narrowing of a passage or opening.

sacr/oA word root that means the sacrum, the triangle-shaped bone at the base of the spine.

salping/oA word root that means tube, most often the fallopian (uterine) tube.

sarc/oA word root that means flesh, or the body's muscle and connective tissue.

scapul/oA word root that means the scapula, the shoulder blade.

scler/oA word root that means hard, or the sclera, the white of the eye.

scoli/oA word part that means crooked or curved.

seb/oA word root that means sebum, the oily substance made by glands in the skin.

semi-A word beginning that means half or partly.

sial/oA word root that means saliva or the glands that make it.

sigmoid/oA word root that means the sigmoid colon, the S-shaped last part of the colon before the rectum.

somat/oA word root that means the body.

son/oA word root that means sound.

sperm/oA word root that means sperm, the male reproductive cell.

spir/oA word root that means breathing.

splen/oA word root that means spleen.

spondyl/oA word part that means vertebra, one of the bones of the spine.

steat/oA word part that means fat.

stern/oA word part that means the sternum, the breastbone.

strept/oA word root that means twisted chains.

sub-A word beginning that means under, below or less than.

suffixA word part added to the end of a word or root to change its meaning.

super-A word beginning that means above, beyond or more than normal.

supra-A word beginning that means above or over.

syn-A word beginning that means together or joined; it is spelled sym- before b, m and p.

synov/oA word root that means the synovial membrane, the lining of a joint, or the fluid it makes.