The English suffix –ic and –al (Latin –icus, a, um and –alia,e) in anatomical terminology

Abstract

It is worth focusing on study of Latin and English anatomical terminology because any doctor or a medicine specialist must master professional language denoting names of bones, intestines, organs of vision, hearing etc. The suffixes “–ic” and “–al” are considered the most widespread in Latin and English anatomical terminology. These suffixes are peculiar for adjectives. There is an insignificant difference in writing of these suffixes: the English suffix is characterized by writing only “-ic” and “-al” at the end of a term. Meanwhile the Latin suffix is written by means of adding the endings –us, a, um to –ic and –is, e to –al. One who studies medicine knows that –icus points to the masculine gender, -ica is peculiar for feminine and –um always denotes neutrum (Engl. neuter). The Latin adjective with –alis, e belongs to so called adjectives of two endings: –alis is the common ending for masculine and feminine, and –e is the special ending for neuter.