Roots: cardi, gastr, derm, neur and other medical roots

🧠 The idea

A ROOT carries the main meaning of a word; prefixes and suffixes attach to it. Many medical roots come from Greek or Latin and often add a COMBINING VOWEL (usually "o") to join the next part, as in cardi-o-logy. Body roots: CARDI (heart), GASTR (stomach), DERM or DERMAT (skin), NEUR (nerve), OSTE (bone), HEPAT (liver), NEPHR and REN (kidney), PULMON (lung), CEPHAL (head), HEM or HEMAT (blood), MY (muscle), ARTHR (joint). General roots: BIO (life), CHRON (time), GRAPH (write, record), PORT (carry), DICT (say, speak), SPECT (look, see). Some organs have two roots, one Greek and one Latin: nephr and ren both mean kidney (nephritis, renal), and pulmon and pneum both relate to the lungs.

✏️ Worked example

📌 Takeaways

• cardi = heart; gastr = stomach; hepat = liver; nephr/ren = kidney.
• derm = skin; oste = bone; my = muscle; arthr = joint; neur = nerve.
• bio = life; chron = time; graph = write; port = carry; dict = say; spect = look.

📖 Terms in this lesson

angi, vas: Vessel, as in angioplasty (repair of a blood vessel) and vascular (relating to vessels).

arthr: Joint, as in arthritis (inflammation of a joint).

bio: Life, as in biopsy (taking tissue from a living body to examine).

cardi: Heart, as in cardiology (the study of the heart).

cephal: Head, as in cephalgia (headache).

chron: Time, as in chronic (lasting a long time).

cost: Rib, as in intercostal (between the ribs).

cutane: Skin (Latin), as in subcutaneous (beneath the skin).

cyt: Cell, as in cytoplasm (the gel-like material inside a cell).

derm, dermat: Skin (Greek), as in dermatitis (inflammation of the skin).

dict: Say or speak, as in contradict (to say the opposite).

encephal: Brain, as in encephalitis (inflammation of the brain).

✅ Check yourself