TEAS word parts: the prefixes, suffixes and roots to know

The prefix, suffix and root lists a TEAS vocabulary item is built from — inflammation, removal, blood condition, heart, liver, kidney — plus the three-step order for reading a word you have never seen before.

TEAS word parts are the fastest points on the English section, because a word you have never seen can still be read: a prefix carries position or degree, a root carries the body part or the core idea, and a suffix carries the condition or the procedure. Learn the three lists below and a question that asks what bradycardia or hepatomegaly means stops being a vocabulary question.

Here is why it pays. ATI's English and language usage section is only 22% of the exam and 33 scored items, and vocabulary is the smallest of its three sub-content areas — but the same parts also appear in the medical vocabulary of the science section. The definitions here are adapted from MedlinePlus, Understanding Medical Words (National Library of Medicine).

Prefixes — where or how much

Prefix	Meaning	Example
a-, an-	without, lacking	apnea — no breathing
brady-	slow	bradycardia — slow heart rate
tachy-	fast	tachycardia — fast heart rate
hyper-	above, excessive	hypertension — high blood pressure
hypo-	below, deficient	hypoglycemia — low blood glucose
dys-	difficult, abnormal	dyspnea — difficult breathing
inter-	between	intercostal — between the ribs
intra-	within	intravenous — within a vein
peri-	around	pericardium — around the heart
sub-	under, below	subcutaneous — under the skin
pre-	before	preoperative — before surgery
post-	after	postoperative — after surgery

Suffixes — what is happening

Suffix	Meaning	Example
-itis	inflammation	arthritis — inflammation of a joint
-algia	pain	neuralgia — nerve pain
-ectomy	surgical removal	appendectomy — removal of the appendix
-tomy	incision, cutting into	tracheotomy — cutting into the trachea
-stomy	a surgical opening	colostomy — an opening into the colon
-plasty	surgical reconstruction	angioplasty — reconstruction of a vessel
-scopy	examination	endoscopy — examination inside the body
-megaly	enlargement	cardiomegaly — enlarged heart
-pathy	disease	neuropathy — disease of the nerves
-emia	a blood condition	leukemia — a cancer of the blood-forming cells
-osis	a condition, usually abnormal	cyanosis — bluish discoloration
-rrhea	flow, discharge	diarrhea — frequent loose discharge

Roots — the core idea

Root	Meaning	Example
cardi-	heart	cardiology
derm-	skin	dermatitis
gastr-	stomach	gastritis
enter-	intestine	gastroenteritis
hepat-	liver	hepatitis
nephr-	kidney	nephritis
neur-	nerve	neurology
oste-, osteo-	bone	osteoporosis
pulmon-	lung	pulmonary
cyt-	cell	cytology
hist-	tissue	histology
hem-, hemat-	blood	hemoglobin
arthr-	joint	arthritis
my-	muscle	myocardium
therm-	heat	thermometer
path-	disease	pathology

How to read a word you have never seen

Work in one direction, and in this order:

Strip the suffix first. It tells you what kind of thing is being described — an inflammation, a removal, a condition of the blood. Match that to the kind of answer the item wants (a condition, a procedure, a disease) before you read the choices, and a couple of them will already be the wrong kind of thing.
Strip the prefix. It tells you where or how much, which is usually the word that distinguishes the two remaining choices.
Name the root last. It tells you what body part or system is involved — the part the question is really asking about.

So hepatosplenomegaly reads as enlargement (a suffix) of the liver and spleen (two roots), and hyperglycemia as an excessive (a prefix) amount of glucose in the blood (a root and a suffix). Both can be answered without ever having met the word.

Two cautions. First, similar endings are not the same ending: -stomy is a surgical opening, -tomy is a cut, and -ectomy is a removal — three different procedures, and a question can offer all three. Second, the prefix is not the diagnosis: hypo- and hyper- look almost the same and mean opposites, and they are the most common trap on a word-parts item.

Where to practice this

Using language and vocabulary practice — word meaning in context and precise word choice
Conventions of standard English practice — the grammar half of the section
English practice — the whole section, all three sub-content areas

The rest of the section's rules are on grammar and punctuation, and the vocabulary method is worked through in using language and vocabulary.

Source: MedlinePlus, Understanding Medical Words: A Tutorial (National Library of Medicine) for the meanings it lists. enter- (intestine), pulmon- (lung) and -algia (pain) carry standard medical-dictionary meanings that the tutorial does not give; the tutorial lists the other rows. Courtesy of MedlinePlus from the National Library of Medicine.

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