Tackling The Veterinary Terminology: Prefixes (myo-)

Remember the Spelling Bee? Big words are easier to tackle when you understand how they're put together. Veterinary terms are composed in the same way. Just like with other words, the main parts of a veterinary term are a prefix, a root, and a suffix. The difference is that they typically come more directly from Greek or Latin.

A prefix is placed at the beginning of a word to modify its meaning by providing additional information. It usually indicates number, location, time, or status.

myo- [mī′ō]/my- (before a vowel) from Greek - muscle, having to do with muscles

The medical prefixes have less elusive meanings than suffixes. What you see is what you get.

When you see this prefix, it means it has to do with muscles.

Simple. For some examples, the one you probably hear about most often is dilated cardiomyopathy, enlarged heart, a disease of the heart muscle. Myopathy by itself means a disease of the muscle(s).

Myocarditis, then, if you remember from the suffixes, mean inflammation of the heart muscular wall, myocardium. Myosarcoma is a cancer of muscle tissue.  Myoparesis is a weakness or slight muscular paralysis. Myoplasty stands for a surgery where typically part of one muscle is used to repair tissue somewhere else, while myotomy means cutting of a muscle. Myositis is inflammation of a muscle(s).

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Related articles:
Veterinary Suffixes (-itis)
Veterinary Suffixes (-oma) 
Veterinary Suffixes (-pathy)  
Veterinary Suffixes (-osis) 
Veterinary Suffixes (-iasis) 
Veterinary Suffixes (-tomy) 
Veterinary Suffixes (-ectomy)  
Veterinary Suffixes (-scopy) 
Veterinary Suffixes (-emia)
Veterinary Suffixes (-penia)
Veterinary Suffixes (-rrhea) 
Veterinary Suffixes (-cyte) 
Veterinary Suffixes (-blast) 
Veterinary Suffixes (-opsy)
Veterinary Suffixes (-ac/-al)

Veterinary Prefixes (hyper-) 
Veterinary Prefixes (hypo-)
Veterinary Prefixes (pyo-)