Medical Terminology Simplified

Endocrine System • CHAPTER 9 397

Suffixes

-dipsia thirst poly/dipsia(pŏl-ē-DĬP-sē-ă): excessive thirst
poly-: many, much
Polydipsia is a characteristic symptom of diabetes mellitus.

-trophy development, hyper/trophy(hī-PĔR-trŏ-fē): increase in the size of an organ
nourishment hyper-: excessive, above normal
Hypertrophy is due to an increase in the size of the cells of an organ, rather than an
increase in the number of cells, as in carcinoma.

Pronunciation Help Long sound a ̄in ra ̄te e ̄in re ̄birth ı ̄in ı ̄sle o ̄in o ̄ver u ̄in u ̄nite
Short sound a ̆in a ̆lone e ̆in e ̆ver ̆ıin ı ̆t o ̆in no ̆t u ̆in cu ̆t

Word Element Meaning Word Analysis

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