Dictionary

Word parts

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

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.

tachy-A word beginning that means fast.

ten/oA word part that means tendon, the tough cord that joins a muscle to a bone.

terat/oA word root that means a malformation; literally, "monster."

therm/oA word part that means heat or temperature.

thorac/oA word part that means the chest.

thromb/oA word part that means blood clot.

thym/oA word root that means the thymus, a gland in the chest that helps T cells mature; it can also mean mind or mood.

thyr/oA word part that means the thyroid gland.

ton/oA word root that means tension or pressure.

tox/oA word part that means poison.

trache/oA word part that means the trachea, the windpipe.

trans-A word beginning that means across, through or beyond.

tri-A word beginning that means three.

trich/oA word root that means hair.

ultra-A word beginning that means beyond or more than.

uni-A word beginning that means one or single.

ur/oA word part that means urine or the urinary tract.

ureter/oA word root that means ureter, one of the two tubes that carry urine from the kidneys to the bladder.

urethr/oA word part that means the urethra, the tube that carries urine out of the body from the bladder.

varic/oA word root that means a swollen, twisted vein.

vascul/oA word root that means blood vessel.

ventricul/oA word root that means a ventricle, a chamber of the heart or a fluid-filled space in the brain.

vesic/oA word root that means the urinary bladder.

viscer/oA word root that means the internal organs, especially those in the abdomen.

xanth/oA word root that means yellow.

xer/oA word root that means dry.