Digestive System

This is Unit Ten of Medical Terminology: the digestive system. Forty-four entries — thirty combining forms, five suffixes belonging to this system, six terms for function and pathology, and three that build and decode. The unit follows the tract itself. Mouth, esophagus, stomach, the three sections of the small intestine, the colon, the rectum, the anus — each taken in the order material passes through it, with the form that names it. Then the organs beside the path. Liver, gallbladder, bile duct, pancreas. Food does not pass through any of them, and their terms are built by the same rules. This system carries more Greek and Latin doubles than any other in the course. Two forms for the mouth, two for the tongue, two for bile — one structure, two ancestries. It also carries the sharpest sound-alikes. Ile and ili differ by one letter and name different body systems. Phagia and phasia name swallowing and speech. By the end you will be able to do five things. One: trace the tract in order and build a term from its parts. Two: tell the Greek and Latin doubles from the one-letter sound-alikes. Three: name the accessory organs and the bile roots. Four: use the five suffixes this unit adds. Five: say what a pathology term names, and what it does not.

Eight forms, and they open with a pattern the unit repeats. The mouth has two forms, one Latin and one Greek. The tongue has two, the same way, and both members of each pair are current.

The Latin form.

MedTerm 0581 or/o: Mouth

Or slash o names the mouth, and comes from Latin. A second combining form names the same structure and comes from Greek — the doubling this unit repeats for the tongue and again for bile.

The Greek form.

MedTerm 0582 stomat/o: Mouth

Stomat slash o also names the mouth, from Greek. The warning here is against a suffix rather than a root: stomat names the structure, while the suffix ostomy from Unit Two names a surgical opening.

The tooth, twice.

MedTerm 0583 dent/o and odont/o: Tooth

Dent slash o and odont slash o both name a tooth, dent from Latin and odont from Greek. Odont takes a silent o at the start of some terms, as in orthodontist.

The gums.

MedTerm 0584 gingiv/o: Gums

Gingiv slash o names the gums, the tissue surrounding the teeth. The g of gingiv is soft, so the term opens with a j sound — Unit One's soft c and g rule applied.

The tongue, from Greek.

MedTerm 0585 gloss/o: Tongue

Gloss slash o names the tongue, and comes from Greek. As with the mouth, a second combining form names the same structure and comes from Latin, and it follows at the next number.

The tongue, from Latin.

MedTerm 0586 lingu/o: Tongue

Lingu slash o also names the tongue, and comes from Latin. Gloss and lingu name one structure, as Greek and Latin pairs do — the two-roots-one-structure case Unit One numbered at entry twenty-six.

Saliva.

MedTerm 0587 sial/o: Saliva

Sial slash o names saliva or a salivary gland. Saliva comes from the mouth; material raised from the lower airway is sputum, and the respiratory unit gave that a separate term and number.

The tube to the stomach.

MedTerm 0588 esophag/o: Esophagus

Esophag slash o names the esophagus, the tube carrying food from throat to stomach. The trachea lies beside it and carries air, so the two are separated by contents rather than by position.

Seven forms following the path onward. Three name the sections of the small intestine in order, and a fourth names all three at once. Between them sits a form belonging to the skeleton, placed here because its confusion is with an intestine.

The stomach.

MedTerm 0589 gastr/o: Stomach

Gastr slash o names the stomach. It is the course's standard example of a combining form and of the joining rules, which is why Unit One used it long before this unit needed it.

The opening beyond it.

MedTerm 0590 pylor/o: Pylorus

Pylor slash o names the pylorus, the opening between stomach and small intestine. Because the pylorus is a passage, terms about it often take narrowing or dilation suffixes, such as Unit Two's stenosis.

First section.

MedTerm 0591 duoden/o: Duodenum

Duoden slash o names the duodenum, the first section of the small intestine. The small intestine has three sections, and each carries its own combining form rather than sharing a single one.

Middle section.

MedTerm 0592 jejun/o: Jejunum

Jejun slash o names the jejunum, the middle section of the small intestine. The order of the three is duodenum, jejunum, ileum, following the path food takes.

Third section.

MedTerm 0593 ile/o: Ileum

Ile slash o names the ileum, the third and final section of the small intestine. A combining form differing from it by a single letter names a hip bone rather than an intestine.

The sound-alike bone.

MedTerm 0594 ili/o: Ilium

Ili slash o names the ilium, the broad upper portion of the hip bone. Ile is the intestine; ili is the bone. One letter, two body systems — the pair Unit One flagged first.

All three at once.

MedTerm 0595 enter/o: Small Intestine

Enter slash o names the small intestine as a whole, not one of its three sections. A term built on enter covers all three together, and that is the distinction the form exists to carry.

Five forms for the large intestine and the end of the tract. Two name the colon, one its S-shaped final section, and the last two reach the anus — one alone, one paired with the rectum.

The large intestine.

MedTerm 0596 col/o and colon/o: Colon

Col slash o and colon slash o both name the colon, the large intestine. Enter slash o names the small intestine and these name the large one, so the two sets are never interchangeable.

The S-shaped section.

MedTerm 0597 sigmoid/o: Sigmoid Colon

Sigmoid slash o names the sigmoid colon, the S-shaped final section of the colon. The name comes from the Greek letter sigma and describes the shape, not anything it does.

The rectum.

MedTerm 0598 rect/o: Rectum

Rect slash o names the rectum, the final section of the large intestine. The rectum follows the sigmoid colon and precedes the anus, which fixes its place in the order of the tract.

Both structures together.

MedTerm 0599 proct/o: Anus and Rectum

Proct slash o names the anus and rectum together. Where rect slash o names one structure only, proct names both at once, so a term built on proct has the wider reference of the two.

The anus.

MedTerm 0600 an/o: Anus

An slash o names the anus, the opening at the end of the digestive tract. As a root, an names that structure; as a prefix, an means without. Same letters, unrelated work.

Five forms for the organs sitting beside the tract rather than on it. The liver makes bile, the gallbladder stores it, a duct carries it onward. Three of the five are built from the single word for bile.

The liver.

MedTerm 0601 hepat/o: Liver

Hepat slash o names the liver. The liver is an accessory organ: food does not pass through it, so it sits beside the path rather than on it.

The gallbladder.

MedTerm 0602 cholecyst/o: Gallbladder

Cholecyst slash o names the gallbladder, the sac that stores bile. The form is two parts already joined — chol, bile, and cyst, a sac. The gallbladder is the bile sac.

Bile, from Greek.

MedTerm 0603 chol/e: Bile

Chol slash e names bile, the fluid the liver produces to aid digestion of fats. This form takes an e rather than the usual o as its combining vowel, which is the exception to mark here.

The duct that carries it.

MedTerm 0604 choledoch/o: Common Bile Duct

Choledoch slash o names the common bile duct, which carries bile toward the small intestine. Chol names the bile itself; choledoch names the duct carrying it. The longer form is the container.

The pancreas.

MedTerm 0605 pancreat/o: Pancreas

Pancreat slash o names the pancreas, which produces digestive enzymes and hormones. Because the pancreas serves both the digestive and the endocrine system, its terms appear in two separate units of this course.

Five forms arriving from Unit Four rather than from the tract. The membrane lining the cavity, the region itself, the wall a procedure passes through, then the appendix and the Latin partner to chol slash e.

The lining membrane.

MedTerm 0606 peritone/o: Peritoneum

Peritone slash o names the peritoneum, the membrane lining the abdominal cavity — Unit Four's cavity term applied to a membrane. The peritoneum lines the cavity and also covers the organs held within it.

The region.

MedTerm 0607 abdomin/o: Abdomen

Abdomin slash o names the abdomen. A second combining form follows at the next number and names the abdominal wall specifically, so the region and the wall around it are kept apart in the terminology.

The wall.

MedTerm 0608 lapar/o: Abdominal Wall

Lapar slash o names the abdominal wall. Abdomin names the region; lapar names the wall a procedure passes through, which is why laparoscopy is built on the second form and not on the first.

The appendix.

MedTerm 0609 appendic/o: Appendix

Appendic slash o names the vermiform appendix, attached to the first part of the colon. Appendectomy drops the ic, and that is a spelling particular to the term rather than a rule to generalise.

Bile, from Latin.

MedTerm 0610 bil/i: Bile

Bil slash i also names bile, and comes from Latin. Chol slash e is the Greek form and bil slash i the Latin one. Both name a single fluid, and both remain in use.

Five suffixes numbered here rather than in Unit Two, because each belongs to one system. Two of them are the closest pair in the course, one letter apart, and their entries sit side by side for that reason.

Digestion.

MedTerm 0611 -pepsia: Digestion

The suffix pepsia names digestion. It names the process itself and not the organ performing it, so a term ending in pepsia describes how digestion is going rather than where it happens.

Swallowing.

MedTerm 0612 -phagia: Eating or Swallowing

The suffix phagia names eating or swallowing. A suffix differing from it by a single letter names speech instead, and the two entries are numbered side by side so the difference cannot be missed.

Speech.

MedTerm 0613 -phasia: Speech

The suffix phasia names speech, the ability to produce language. Dysphagia is swallowing; dysphasia is speech. One letter separates two body systems, and Unit Three's prefix dys sits in front of both.

Defecation.

MedTerm 0614 -chezia: Defecation

The suffix chezia names defecation, the passing of stool. Its ch is spoken as a k sound rather than as an ordinary English ch, which makes it a pronunciation trap and not a spelling one.

Vomiting.

MedTerm 0615 -emesis: Vomiting

The suffix emesis names vomiting. Emesis and the suffix emia both open with an e and name entirely unrelated things — vomiting in the one case, a condition of the blood in the other.

Six terms, none built from a combining form. Two name what the tract does. The other four name findings, and each ends by stating what it does not claim — read together they teach a discipline no one of them teaches alone.

The wave.

MedTerm 0616 Peristalsis

Peristalsis is the wave of muscular contraction that moves material along the digestive tract. It is involuntary and continues without conscious control, which is why the terminology describes it rather than directing it.

The act of swallowing.

MedTerm 0617 Deglutition

Deglutition is the act of swallowing, moving material from the mouth into the esophagus. Deglutition names the act; dysphagia names difficulty performing it. The two are not one word at different registers.

Fluid in the cavity.

MedTerm 0618 Ascites

Ascites is an accumulation of fluid within the peritoneal cavity, measured and described by volume and location. The term names the fluid collection and states nothing whatever about what produced it.

A yellow colour.

MedTerm 0619 Jaundice

Jaundice is a yellow discolouration of the skin and eyes from bile pigment in the blood, named icterus in some records. It is an observed colour, as cyanosis is, and neither names a cause.

A protrusion.

MedTerm 0620 A Hernia

A hernia is the protrusion of an organ or tissue through the wall that normally contains it. A hernia takes its name from where it protrudes, not from what protrudes through the wall.

An open sore.

MedTerm 0621 An Ulcer

An ulcer is an open sore on a skin or mucous membrane surface, formed by loss of tissue. It is a break in a surface; a lesion sitting on a surface is described differently.

Three entries close the unit, and none adds a new part. The first puts the structures back in order, the second applies Unit One's joining rules across four builds, and the capstone decodes fourteen terms, suffix first.

The path in order.

MedTerm 0622 Tracing the Digestive Tract in Order

Tracing the tract means naming its structures in the order material passes through them: mouth, esophagus, stomach, duodenum, jejunum, ileum, colon, sigmoid colon, rectum, anus. The liver, gallbladder and pancreas sit beside that path. A term naming one section of the small intestine names one of three; a term in enter slash o names all three.

Four builds.

MedTerm 0623 Building Digestive Terms

Building a digestive term means selecting the combining form, then the suffix, then applying the joining rules. Gastritis takes a vowel suffix, so the root links it directly. Gastroenterology applies two different rules at two joins, and it is the term Unit One used to introduce them.

Fourteen decodes, suffix first.

MedTerm 0624 Capstone: Fourteen Digestive Terms Decoded

The capstone decodes fourteen digestive terms suffix first, using the word parts of Units Two through Ten. Nine of the fourteen use the suffix itis: this unit supplied the roots, and Unit Two supplied that suffix nine times over.

Five things to carry out of Unit Ten. The tract in order: mouth, esophagus, stomach, duodenum, jejunum, ileum, colon, sigmoid colon, rectum, anus. Put the universal suffixes on those roots, apply Unit One's joining rules, and the terms assemble rather than needing memorising. The doubles are Greek and Latin naming one structure — or and stomat, gloss and lingu, chol and bil. The sound-alikes are a different problem: ile and ili, phagia and phasia, one letter apart, each pair crossing into another body system. The liver makes bile, the gallbladder stores it, the common bile duct carries it toward the small intestine, and the pancreas supplies enzymes. None of the four sits on the path material takes. Five suffixes belong to this system rather than to the universal set: pepsia for digestion, phagia for swallowing, phasia for speech, chezia for defecation, emesis for vomiting. And the pathology terms are careful in a way worth copying. Ascites names a fluid collection and no cause. Jaundice names an observed colour and no cause. A hernia is named by where it protrudes, an ulcer by the loss of tissue that opened it. Unit Eleven turns to the urinary and reproductive systems.