You cannot learn a language unless you use it, find out whether your usage is correct, and then expand your vocabulary and your communication skills. Medical terminology, because it is a language, requires a similar learning process. And because medicine is constantly revising its conclusions, uncovering new diseases, and participating in the creation of new technologies, medical terminology must be adaptable so that it can keep pace. Although this chapter will provide little more than an introduction to the subject of medical terminology, we will begin, as we do with any foreign language, with the basics. Those who need more specific terminolgy can use these basics as building blocks.
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