Medical and scientific terms often come from Greek and Latin roots, giving them unusual spellings and pronunciations. This guide covers the most commonly mispronounced terms in healthcare and science.
Silent Letter Patterns from Greek
Many medical terms have Greek origins with silent initial consonants:
Silent P Pattern
The P is silent before: N, S, T (at the beginning of words from Greek)
- pn-: pneumonia, pneumatic
- ps-: psychology, psychiatry, pseudo
- pt-: pterodactyl, ptolemy
Common Medical Terms
Scientific Terms
Chemical and Biological Terms
Body Parts and Organs
Tricky Plurals
Scientific terms often have Latin/Greek plural forms:
| Singular | Plural | Pronunciation |
|---|---|---|
| phenomenon | phenomena | /fəˈnɑːmɪnə/ |
| criterion | criteria | /kraɪˈtɪriə/ |
| bacterium | bacteria | /bækˈtɪriə/ |
| nucleus | nuclei | /ˈnuːkliaɪ/ |
| focus | foci | /ˈfoʊsaɪ/ |
| stimulus | stimuli | /ˈstɪmjulaɪ/ |
| vertebra | vertebrae | /ˈvɜːrtɪbreɪ/ |
Pharmaceutical Terms
Common Mispronunciations
| Word | Wrong | Right |
|---|---|---|
| epitome | /ˈepɪtoʊm/ | /ɪˈpɪtəmi/ |
| hyperbole | /ˈhaɪpərboʊl/ | /haɪˈpɜːrbəli/ |
| genome | /ˈdʒiːnoʊm/ | /ˈdʒiːnoʊm/ or /ˈɡiːnoʊm/ |
| niche | /nɪtʃ/ | /niːʃ/ or /nɪtʃ/ |
| mischievous | /mɪsˈtʃiːviəs/ | /ˈmɪstʃɪvəs/ |