Skip to main content
SWStudyWalks Search

Medical Terminology / Unit 3   MedTerm 0133 short lesson, about 20 seconds

para-: Beside or Near

Captions available

The idea

The prefix para means beside, near, or alongside the structure the rest of the term identifies.

In practice

The parathyroid glands lie beside the thyroid gland.

Where people slip

Para also carries a second sense, abnormal, in some terms. Context decides which.

Your place on the trail

Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.

Something wrong in this lesson? Flag it  ·  Sources for Medical Terminology