Integumentary System

This is Unit Five of Medical Terminology: the integumentary system — skin, hair, nails and glands, and the first body system this course takes on. Units One through Four supplied the machine and the map: word parts, joining rules, universal suffixes, universal prefixes, and the terms for where in a body something sits. This unit supplies roots, and then spends most of its time attaching them to elements you already have. Eighteen of the twenty-eight entries are combining forms. Six of them arrive in three pairs, because Greek and Latin each gave this system a word for the same structure. Skin has derm and cutane. A nail has onych and ungu. Hair has trich and pil. Two roots, one structure, every time. One pair in this unit is a trap rather than a partnership. Hidr, sweat, and hydr, water, differ by one letter, sound identical spoken aloud, and name unrelated things. That is the sound-alike pattern from Unit One, now appearing inside a body system. The unit closes on four lesion terms and the discipline they demand. Macule, papule, vesicle and pustule describe how a lesion looks and how it feels, and nothing whatever about why it is there. By the end you will be able to do five things. One: name the forms for skin, nail and hair, and say why one structure has two roots. Two: tell hidr from hydr, and name the forms for horny tissue, melanin, sebum and fat. Three: use the descriptive forms for scale, dryness, fungus and colour. Four: name the three layers of skin, and describe a lesion in the terms it takes. Five: build and decode an integumentary term from roots and universal suffixes.

Five entries open the unit, and they run outward from the organ to its materials. Two Greek roots for skin, then the Latin one, then the tissue covering every body surface, then the protein that hardens skin and nails, then the pigment that colours them. The first pair is also the unit's first twin cluster, at adjacent numbers.

The Greek roots for skin.

MedTerm 0261 derm/o and dermat/o: Skin

The combining forms derm slash o and dermat slash o both name the skin. Dermatitis, built on dermat with the universal suffix itis, is inflammation of the skin. Both are Greek and both name the same organ. Which one a given term takes is fixed by convention rather than by rule.

The Latin root.

MedTerm 0262 cutane/o: Skin

The combining form cutane slash o also names the skin, and comes from Latin rather than Greek. Subcutaneous, built with the universal prefix sub, means beneath the skin. Cutane slash o names the same organ as dermat slash o. There is no second skin.

The covering tissue.

MedTerm 0263 epitheli/o: Epithelium

The combining form epitheli slash o names epithelium, the tissue covering body surfaces and lining cavities. An epithelial cell is a cell of this covering tissue. Epithelium is a tissue type found throughout the body, not only in skin, so a term in epitheli is not confined to this unit.

The protein that toughens.

MedTerm 0264 kerat/o: Horny Tissue

The combining form kerat slash o names hard, horny tissue, the protein that toughens skin and nails. Keratosis, with the universal suffix osis, is an abnormal condition of thickened, horny skin. Kerat slash o also names the cornea of the eye, and the rest of the term decides which.

The pigment.

MedTerm 0265 melan/o: Black or Melanin

The combining form melan slash o names the colour black, or melanin, the pigment giving skin its colour. A melanocyte is the cell producing melanin, on the cell suffix from Unit Four. Melan slash o names a pigment, so terms in melan describe colour or the cells making it.

Four entries, two pairs, and the book numbers each pair adjacently so that neither member can be met without the other. Unit One's rule at entry twenty-six governs both: one structure with a Greek name and a Latin name is one structure. Reading it as two is the error the next entry there names.

The Greek root for nail.

MedTerm 0266 onych/o: Nail

The combining form onych slash o names a nail of the finger or toe. Onychomycosis is an abnormal condition of fungus in a nail. The o is silent at the start of onych, so the term is spoken beginning with an n sound rather than with the vowel.

Its Latin partner.

MedTerm 0267 ungu/o: Nail

The combining form ungu slash o also names a nail, and comes from Latin. Subungual means beneath a nail. Ungu slash o and onych slash o name the same structure, as Latin and Greek pairs do. Two roots here mean two languages, not two structures.

The Greek root for hair.

MedTerm 0268 trich/o: Hair

The combining form trich slash o names hair. Trichomycosis is an abnormal condition of fungus affecting hair. The ch in trich is spoken as a k sound, so the term opens on a hard k and never on the sound the spelling suggests.

Its Latin partner.

MedTerm 0269 pil/o: Hair

The combining form pil slash o also names hair, and comes from Latin. A pilonidal cyst contains hair. Pil slash o and trich slash o are the Latin and Greek names for one structure, which makes this the third such pair in the unit's first nine entries.

Four entries. The first two are the unit's sharpest cluster: hidr and hydr, sweat and water, one letter apart and indistinguishable in speech. The remaining two name the skin's oil and the fat beneath it, and the oil entry exists partly to keep sweat and sebum from collapsing into one idea.

Sweat.

MedTerm 0270 hidr/o: Sweat

The combining form hidr slash o names sweat or a sweat gland. Hyperhidrosis, built with the universal prefix hyper, is an abnormal condition of excessive sweating. A combining form differing from this one by a single letter names water rather than sweat, and it is the next entry.

Water, one letter away.

MedTerm 0271 hydr/o: Water

The combining form hydr slash o names water or fluid. Hydrocephalus is an accumulation of fluid in the brain. Hidr and hydr differ by one letter, sound alike, and name unrelated things. This is Unit One's sound-alike pattern, appearing for the first time inside a body system.

The skin's oil.

MedTerm 0272 seb/o: Sebum

The combining form seb slash o names sebum, the oily secretion of the skin's glands. Seborrhea, with the universal suffix rrhea for flow or discharge, is excessive discharge of sebum. Sebum is oil. Sweat is a separate secretion with its own combining form.

Fat, in both languages.

MedTerm 0273 adip/o and lip/o: Fat

The combining forms adip slash o and lip slash o both name fat, adip from Latin and lip from Greek. A lipoma, with the universal suffix oma, is a benign mass of fat tissue. Adipose is the standard adjective, and lipoid means resembling fat rather than being fat.

Five entries that report appearance. Shape, dryness, the organism present, and two colours. Every one of them carries the same caution in a different form: the term names what is observed and stops there. That restraint is the course convention this unit tests for the first time.

A flat, scale-like shape.

MedTerm 0274 squam/o: Scale

The combining form squam slash o names a scale, or tissue with a flat, scale-like appearance. Squamous epithelium is made of flat, scale-like cells. Squamous describes cell shape, not a disease, so the word on its own reports how something looks and nothing more.

Dryness.

MedTerm 0275 xer/o: Dry

The combining form xer slash o names dryness. Xeroderma is abnormally dry skin. The x at the start of xer is spoken as a z sound, so the term is heard beginning zero. The spelling opens with an x and the pronunciation does not.

Fungus, specifically.

MedTerm 0276 myc/o: Fungus

The combining form myc slash o names a fungus. Dermatomycosis is an abnormal condition of fungus on the skin. Myc slash o names fungus specifically, not infection in general, so a term built on myc reports which kind of organism rather than that something is infected.

Redness of skin.

MedTerm 0277 erythem/o: Redness

The combining form erythem slash o names redness of the skin. Erythema is redness of an area of skin. A related form, erythr slash o, names the colour red and appears in blood terms. The two are close in spelling and belong to different systems.

The colour blue.

MedTerm 0278 cyan/o: Blue

The combining form cyan slash o names the colour blue. Cyanosis, with the universal suffix osis, is an abnormal condition of bluish discolouration of the skin. Cyanosis names an observed colour. It states nothing about its cause.

Three entries of anatomy, taught only to the depth the terminology needs. Each layer is named by its position relative to the layer above it, which means two of the three names are universal prefixes from Unit Three attached to a root from this unit. The depth terms come from Unit Four.

The outermost layer.

MedTerm 0279 The Epidermis

The epidermis is the outermost layer of skin, lying upon the dermis and containing no blood vessels. The universal prefix epi, meaning upon, and the root derm together name the layer sitting upon the skin's deeper layer. The epidermis is the layer a superficial injury reaches.

The layer beneath it.

MedTerm 0280 The Dermis

The dermis is the layer of skin beneath the epidermis, containing blood vessels, nerves, and glands. A wound reaching the dermis reaches blood vessels, which the epidermis lacks. The dermis is the middle layer, not the deepest one, and a third layer lies below it.

The deepest layer.

MedTerm 0281 The Subcutaneous Layer

The subcutaneous layer lies beneath the dermis and is composed largely of fat and connective tissue. A subcutaneous injection is given into this layer, beneath both skin layers above it. The layer is also called the hypodermis, on the universal prefix hypo, and both names are current.

Four entries in two adjacent pairs, and the pairs are built the same way. The first pair separates on one feature: whether the lesion is raised. The second pair separates on one feature as well: what the raised lesion holds. Nothing in any of the four names a cause.

A flat spot.

MedTerm 0282 A Macule

A macule is a flat, discoloured spot on the skin, level with the surrounding surface. A freckle is a macule. A macule is flat. If the spot can be felt as raised above the surface, the term is a different one, and that term is next.

The raised form.

MedTerm 0283 A Papule

A papule is a small, solid, raised lesion on the skin. A raised mole is a papule. Macule and papule differ only by whether the lesion is raised above the surrounding surface. Both describe appearance, and neither describes a cause.

Raised, with clear fluid.

MedTerm 0284 A Vesicle

A vesicle is a small, raised lesion on the skin containing clear fluid. A blister is a vesicle. A vesicle holds clear fluid. A similar lesion holding cloudy fluid has its own term, and that term is the next entry.

Raised, with pus.

MedTerm 0285 A Pustule

A pustule is a small, raised lesion on the skin containing pus. A pimple is a pustule. Vesicle and pustule differ by the fluid inside. Both are raised and both are small, so the contents carry the whole distinction between them.

Three entries close the unit and each is longer than what came before. The first describes a lesion in a fixed order and then states where the vocabulary stops. The second builds four terms and names the join in each. The capstone decodes ten, and its closing measurement is the reason the course is organised this way at all.

Four things, named in order.

MedTerm 0286 Describing a Skin Lesion in Terms

Describing a lesion means naming four things in order: whether it is raised, what it contains, its colour, and where it sits. A flat red spot on one forearm is an erythematous macule, unilateral. Clear-fluid lesions on both hands are bilateral vesicles. A raised solid bump near the midline of the back is a papule, medial. Unilateral, bilateral and medial all come from Unit Four. None of these names a cause, and the vocabulary does not supply one.

Roots in, rules applied.

MedTerm 0287 Building Integumentary Terms From Word Parts

Building an integumentary term means selecting the combining form for the structure, then the suffix for the kind of term, then applying Unit One's joining rules. In dermatitis, itis begins with a vowel, so the root links it. In dermatoplasty, plasty begins with a consonant, so the combining form links it. Onychomycosis links root to root with the combining form, and hyperhidrosis attaches its prefix directly. The first two builds differ only in the first letter of the suffix, and that letter decides which element does the linking.

The capstone. Ten terms decoded.

MedTerm 0288 Capstone: Ten Integumentary Terms Decoded

The capstone decodes ten integumentary terms with Unit One's method and the word parts of Units Two through Five, suffix first. Dermatology is the study of the skin; a dermatologist is its specialist. Melanoma is a tumour of pigment-producing cells. Onychomycosis and trichomycosis are fungal conditions of a nail and of the hair. Hyperhidrosis is excessive sweating, keratosis is thickened horny skin, and dermatoplasty is surgical repair of skin. Nine of the ten used only suffixes numbered in Unit Two. The system unit supplied the roots; the universal block supplied everything else.

Five things to carry out of Unit Five. Skin is derm slash o and dermat slash o from Greek and cutane slash o from Latin. A nail is onych slash o and ungu slash o. Hair is trich slash o and pil slash o. Each pair is one structure with two roots, because the vocabulary drew on two languages, and reading a pair as two structures is the error Unit One numbers at twenty-seven. Hidr is sweat and hydr is water. They differ by one letter, they sound the same, and they name unrelated things. Kerat slash o is horny tissue and also the cornea, melan slash o is black or melanin, seb slash o is the skin's oil, and adip slash o and lip slash o are fat in Latin and in Greek. The descriptive forms report what is seen and stop. Squam slash o is a flat, scale-like shape rather than a disease. Xer slash o is dryness, spoken with a z. Myc slash o is fungus specifically, not infection in general. Erythem slash o is redness of skin, and cyan slash o is blue, which names a colour and says nothing about its cause. The skin runs three layers deep: epidermis on top with no blood vessels, dermis beneath it with vessels, nerves and glands, and the subcutaneous layer below that, of fat and connective tissue, also called the hypodermis. A lesion is described by whether it is raised, what it holds, its colour and its site — macule flat, papule raised and solid, vesicle clear fluid, pustule pus. And the builds are Unit One's rules unchanged: a vowel suffix takes the root, a consonant suffix takes the combining form, root joins root through the combining form, and a prefix attaches directly. The capstone's own finding is the one to keep — nine of its ten terms used only suffixes numbered in Unit Two, and this unit supplied nothing but roots. Unit Six takes the same method to the musculoskeletal system, with a much larger set of roots and the same universal block behind them.