Lori Renda-Francis - Textbook for the Veterinary Assistant

Now that you have a basic understanding of the different parts of a word, let’s look at some commonly used prefixes, suffixes, and root words.

By learning the meanings of the commonly utilized prefixes, you will be able to break down unfamiliar words to find out their meaning. It may be helpful to divide them into categories according to their meaning. Below are the prefixes arranged into six categories.

1 Prefixes related to position regarding time and place

2 Prefixes describing position or location

3 Prefixes related to type

4 Prefixes related to direction

5 Prefixes describing number or quantity

6 Prefixes related to size, amount, and color

If we have the root word “operative” we can change the meaning by inserting different prefixes. For example:

preoperative – before a surgery

postoperative – after the surgery

perioperative – around the time of the surgery

Prefixes related to position regarding time and place:

Prefixes describing position or location:

Prefixes related to type:

Prefixes related to direction:

Prefixes describing number or quantity:

Prefixes related to size, amount and color:

By learning the meanings of commonly used suffixes, you will be able to break down parts of an unfamiliar word in order to find out its meaning. For example, if we take the root word “derm,” which means skin, and add the suffix “‐ology,” we get dermatology which is defined as the study of skin. If we add the suffix “‐itis” to “derm,” we end up with dermatitis, which is an inflammation of the skin. So by changing the suffix we can create new words.

Below is a list of some of the suffixes commonly used in veterinary medicine.

Below is list of commonly used root words. They are grouped according to their relationship to the anatomy – external or internal. External anatomy refers to any visible part of the body, and internal anatomy refers to organs, bones, and other tissues within the body.