Medical Terminology quiz

More questions about Medical Terminology

These visible examples show the question style. LearnClash turns the full topic into ranked duels and spaced repetition.

1. 1 Easy

   The medical term 'muscle' originates from the Latin word for which animal?

   Answer: mouse

   Why: Greek played the same trick: its word for the animal meant muscle too, which is why the heart muscle is called the myocardium.

2. 2 Medium

   Which medical term refers to the surgical repair of a vessel?

   Answer: angioplasty

   Why: Andreas Gruentzig first widened a blocked coronary artery with a balloon catheter in Zurich on 16 September 1977.

3. 3 Hard

   What does the term "iatrogenic" mean regarding a patient's condition?

   Answer: caused by treatment

   Why: It carries the Greek iatros, meaning healer; the term appeared around 1920 and also covers harm from diagnostic tests and medicines.

4. 4 Easy

   What does the suffix "-ectomy" mean in medical terms?

   Answer: surgical removal

   Why: Greek ektome means a cutting out, from ek, out, and temnein, to cut, which is why taking out the appendix is an appendectomy.

5. 5 Medium

   Which emotional state was historically linked to the Greek root for 'uterus'?

   Answer: hysteria

   Why: Greek doctors blamed a wandering womb, an idea long since disproved; the label was dropped from the US psychiatric manual in 1980.

6. 6 Hard

   What does the term "idiopathic" imply about a disease?

   Answer: unknown cause

   Why: The word joins Greek idios, one's own, with pathos, suffering: literally an illness that seems to arise all by itself.