Good place to find out literal meanings of veterinary words?

[evenstar7139]

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Thoracodorsal for instance. Where could I go and find out what each word that word is made up of means?

I find when I understand the words in a word, it's much easier to learn.

And does radius literally mean "spoke"?

 

[sunshinevet]

The easiest thing would be to buy yourself a veterinary dictionary.

 

[aspiringDVM]

I don't exactly what you're looking for re: "literal definitions," but I borrowed the medical terminology book my vet used in undergrad (25 years ago) and went through it last summer, and that was really helpful. I liked it because it gave many of the "building blocks" of words, which sounds like it might work well for you as well. For instance, en= inside, ceph= head, itis= inflamation, so "encephalitis" = "inflammation of the brain."

 

[PrimalMU]

The easiest way to get at least a broad general idea of as many terms as possible is to learn the root words used in medicine. I can only assume that for the most part (where applicable) veterinary medicine follows the same guidelines as human medicine where terminology is concerned.

 

[HopefulAg]

I think a class in Medical Terminology would answer your questions. It's all roots and suffixes; Latin.


I don't know the literal meaning of the word, but I'm assuming thoraco = thorax (compartment with heart, lungs, etc) and I know dorsal is the 'back', so I'd assume Thoracodorsal is the back of the thorax.

That's pretty much all medical terminology is, just sorting out the various components. For the most part that's all English is as well.

 

[evenstar7139]

I have a veterinary dictionary but it's the same dilemma with google: if I can't figure out the noun form of the word, I'm sunk. And even then, some root words I could swear aren't even in there! I was hoping there was some site where I could type in a word in any form and have it recognize it. 😀

I have a book on veterinary terminology but it has a lot of....oh my God! Thumbing through it I just realized it has a list of commonly used root words. It's got a bunch of useful words in there, words I've seen a lot!

Why did I not notice this o.0

*quietly tiptoes from post* I'l let cha know if I have any more issues.

 

[CanadianGolden]

I think you want the etymology of the words. Try an etymology guide.

 

[Morganator]

Sounds like you figured it out - but I wanted to mention I assume that most schools have a class the first year to explain the basics of medical terminology. I know ISU does - and would think others would as well. Just in case you're trying to prepare ahead of time for school...

 

[projekt]

I'm learning modern Greek and I'm blown away by how much medical terminology is everyday stuff in Greek. Like 'catheter', coming from 'to sit'.