In many medical terms, what joins a root word to a suffix?

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Ruby Miles

1 June, 21:55

In many medical terms, what joins a root word to a suffix?

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Fabian Hinton · Answer 1

In many medical terms, a combining vowel joins a root word to a suffix.

A combining vowel (usually O or I and less frequently U) is used between two elements of a medical term to make the term easier to pronounce. The other vowels may also be used, but less often.

Example:

hepatmalacia (hepat/malacia) - - hepatomalacia (hepat/o/malcia)