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Medical Terminology · Chapter 1

The Decode Bench

A long term is never memorized — it is cut apart and then read in a fixed order. Click between the letters to drop slash marks where the word parts join, and the bench will tell you which combining-vowel rule you just used. Then read the term the way clinicians do: suffix first, prefix second, middle last.
1 · Cut it apart
2 · Read in order
3 · Say what it means
Term 1 of 1Clean decodes: 0

What the bench sees

Drop a slash at every join you can find. Most terms have two or three. The combining vowel — usually an o — belongs to the root in front of it, so cut after the o, not before it.

The three rules, on one card

Rule 1Keep the combining vowel between a root and a suffix that begins with a consonant. arthr/o + -scopy = arthroscopy.
Rule 2Drop it when the suffix begins with a vowel. arthr/o + -itis = arthritis, never arthroitis.
Rule 3Keep it between two roots, even when the second root starts with a vowel. oste/o + arthr/o + -itis = osteoarthritis.
PrefixesStand outside the system entirely. They attach straight to what follows: sub/lingual, peri/cardium, hyper/tension.