Medical Terminology Jeopardy

Decode prefixes, roots, and suffixes the way a chart reads them. Built for med-term courses, priced at exactly nothing to copy, and buzzed from phones.

6 categories · 30 clues · Final Jeopardy · everyone buzzes in from their phone

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Every clue on this board

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Prefixes

$200
This prefix means before or in front of, as in words like prenatal and preoperative.
What is pre-?
$400
This prefix means around, as in a term for the tissue surrounding a tooth.
What is peri-?
$600
This prefix means within or inside, as in intravenous.
What is intra-?
$800
This prefix, meaning against, appears in terms like antibiotic and antipyretic.
What is anti-?
$1,000
This prefix means difficult, painful, or abnormal, as in a term for labored breathing.
What is dys-?

Suffixes

$200
This suffix means inflammation, as in appendicitis and arthritis.
What is -itis?
$400
This suffix means surgical removal, as in appendectomy.
What is -ectomy?
$600
This suffix means study of, as in cardiology.
What is -ology?
$800
This suffix means surgical repair, as in rhinoplasty.
What is -plasty?
$1,000
This suffix means abnormal softening, as in osteomalacia.
What is -malacia?

Greek and Latin Roots

$200
This root, meaning heart, appears in terms like cardiology and cardiac.
What is cardi/o?
$400
This root, meaning kidney, appears in terms like nephrology and nephritis.
What is nephr/o?
$600
This root, meaning liver, appears in terms like hepatitis.
What is hepat/o?
$800
This root, meaning blood, appears in terms like hematology.
What is hemat/o?
$1,000
This root, meaning skin, appears in terms like dermatology.
What is derm/o?

Directional Terms

$200
This directional term describes a body part located toward the head.
What is superior?
$400
This directional term describes a body part located toward the feet.
What is inferior?
$600
This directional term describes a structure closer to the midline of the body.
What is medial?
$800
This directional term describes a structure farther from the point of attachment on a limb.
What is distal?
$1,000
This directional term describes a body part located toward the front of the body.
What is anterior?

Abbreviations

$200
In a medical chart, this abbreviation instructs a medication to be taken by mouth.
What is PO?
$400
In a medical chart, this abbreviation stands for a patient's blood pressure reading.
What is BP?
$600
This abbreviation, written on an order, means the medication should be given as needed rather than on a fixed schedule.
What is PRN?
$800
This abbreviation refers to the hospital department where patients receive urgent, unscheduled care.
What is the ED?
$1,000
This abbreviation on an order means the medication should be given immediately, without delay.
What is STAT?

Build the Term

$200
This term, combining the root for stomach with the suffix for inflammation, names inflammation of the stomach lining.
What is gastritis?
$400
This term, combining the root for kidney with the suffix for study of, names the medical specialty focused on the kidneys.
What is nephrology?
$600
This term, combining the prefix for slow with the root for heart, names an abnormally slow heart rate.
What is bradycardia?
$800
This term, combining the root for liver with the suffix for surgical removal, names surgical removal of part of the liver.
What is hepatectomy?
$1,000
This term, combining the prefix for difficult with the root for breathing, names labored or difficult breathing.
What is dyspnea?

Final Jeopardy — Build the Term

Built from Greek roots for muscle and heart, this term names the thick contractile middle layer of the heart wall.

What is the myocardium?

How to run this board

Medical terminology is a decoding skill, not a memorization contest, and games reward decoders. The columns here split the skill into parts: prefixes, suffixes, Greek and Latin roots, directional terms, abbreviations, and a final category that asks players to assemble whole terms.

Instructors in allied-health, pre-nursing, and coding programs can run this in the last twenty minutes of class. Everyone buzzes in on a phone, so shy decoders compete on even footing with loud ones.

Try reading unfamiliar terms aloud before revealing spelling. Ears meet these words before eyes do in a real clinic.

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