-a

DEFINITION of -a

Forms nouns: condition (of), state (of); As a prefix, a- is a privative (negating) morpheme meaning “without,” “not,” or “lacking” — indicating the absence of a structure, function, or condition. It attaches to Greek-derived roots. When the root begins with a vowel, it typically becomes an- to ease pronunciation. As a suffix, -a serves primarily as a grammatical/nominative ending in Latin and Greek nouns (especially neuter plural Latin forms and feminine singular forms), giving medical terms their standard noun form rather than carrying independent clinical meaning.

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ETYMOLOGY of -a

greek a- / an- — the Greek alpha privative, one of the oldest and most productive prefixes in medical terminology. Parallel to Latin in- (also meaning “not/without”). The suffix use derives from Latin and Greek nominative noun endings

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RELATED TERMS to -a

-a	condition (of)	state (of)	-
-ema	Yes	Yes	-
-esis	Yes	Yes	-
-ia	Yes	Yes	-
-ism	Yes	Yes	quality of
-ismus	Yes	Yes	muscular spasm
-sis	Yes	Yes	-
-ty	Yes	Yes	-
-y	Yes	Yes	-

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DERIVATIONS of -a

TABLE definition AS Definition 
WHERE length(filter(roots, (word) => econtains([[]].roots, word))) > 0 AND file.name != [[]].file.name
SORT file.name ASC

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Query functionality (default defines synonyms)

TABLE aliases AS Aliases, definition AS Definition
FROM #medroot
WHERE length(filter(definition, (word) => econtains([[]].definition, word))) > 0 AND file.name != [[]].file.name

Med roots dictionary Appendix A Prefixes Appendix B Combining Forms Appendix C Suffixes Appendix D Suffix forms