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Study Latin

Published on 29th January 2021

Studying Anatomy & Physiology? Study Latin! (Part one)

You’ve made the decision to study Anatomy and Physiology and have thrown yourself into the course. But learning Latin anatomical names is a formidable task.

Why Latin? The majority of names relating to anatomy are Latin-based, as it was the language of science up to the beginning of the 18th century. All medical texts were written in Latin.

To this day it is used as a means to standardise language for medical professionals, and with a little knowledge, you too can be learning key terms and anatomical names with ease. It will help you understand that names can be broken down into different parts, each part having a different meaning. It will suddenly make sense.

Get to grips with your A&P by learning these basic prefixes. These are the one or more syllables placed before a word that change its meaning:

A-, an- a deficiency, lack or weakness

Eg. Anaemia - lack of blood

Eg. Anaesthesia - lack of feeling

Ab- move away from

Eg. Hip abductor muscle

Ad- move towards

Eg. Hip adductor muscle

Ana- up, again

Eg. Anatomy, meaning cutting up, dissecting

Anti- opposite of, against

Eg. Antiseptic - against infection

Apo- off, away from

Eg. Apophysis - a bony projection

Dia- across, through

Eg. Diaphragm - muscle stretching across lower thoracic cavity

Dys- difficult, bad, defective

Eg. Dyspnea - difficulty in breathing

Ec-, ex- out of, outward, out

Eg. Ectopic - an out of place occurrence

En- within, in

Eg. Encephalon - inside the brain

Epi- over, upon, outer

Eg. Epidermis - outer layer of skin

Hyper- excessive, over, above

Eg. Hyperthyroidism - excessive activity of the thyroid

Hypo- insufficient, under, below

Eg. Hypoglycaemia - low blood sugar level

Meta- beyond, after

Eg. Metatarsal - middle bones of the foot after the tarsal bones

Para- alongside, near, abnormal

Eg. Parotid gland - alongside the ear

Peri- around, about

Eg. Periosteum - membrane around the bone

Pre- before, in front of

Eg. Prefrontal cortex of the brain

Pro- before, forward, in advance of

Eg. Prognosis - forecast or knowing in advance

Sub- under, below, beneath

Eg. Subclavian artery - runs under the clavicle

Supra- above, over

Eg. Supraspinatus muscle - runs above the spine of the scapula

Sy-, syn-, sym- together, with, joined

Eg, Synapse - connection joining neurons

In Part Two, we’ll look at the prefixes used to indicate parts of the body.

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