Basic Medical Terminology - U Trivia Quiz

Answer: urine, urination

Ur/o is a word part derived from the Greek "ouron", meaning urine. Words containing ur- or ur/o usually relate to urine or the anatomatical structures associated with urine; for example, ureter (tube which conducts urine from the kidney to the bladder) and urethra (tube which conducts urine from the bladder to outside the body). Urology is the area of medicine concerned with the study and treatment of disorders affecting the urinary tract. Words ending in the suffix -uria relate to the condition of urine.

The word part in front of -uria usually tells us something about the quality or quantity of the urine; for example, haematuria (blood in the urine), pyuria (pus in the urine), proteinuria (protein in the urine), oliguria (diminished quantity of urine), and polyuria (excessive urination).

Answer: one

Uni- is a Latin-based prefix meaning one. Some examples of usage include unilateral (one-sided), unicellular (one-celled) and union (Latin: "unionem" and "unio" meaning oneness).

Answer: womb

Uter/o is a word part which means uterus or womb. It is derived from the Latin "uterus", meaning womb or belly. Examples of usage include uterine (pertaining to the womb) and the term "in utero" (in the uterus). Most medical terms relating to the uterus, however, are based on the Greek word "hystera" rather than the Latin equivalent.

Answer: little, small

The suffix -ule belongs to a group of suffixes that are described collectively as "diminutive suffixes", all of which mean little or small. For example, venule means a very small vein, module means a small measure or part, and the original meaning of capsule was a small box, case, or chest (i.e. small container).

Other diminutive suffixes include -icle (particle = little part), -ole (arteriole = very small artery), and -ella (rubella = little red, as in the little red spots characteristic of the disease rubella).

Answer: beyond, excessive

Ultra- is a Latin-based prefix meaning beyond, farther. Ultrasound (or more correctly, ultrasonography) is a means of producing an image using sound waves that are above and beyond the range audible to the human ear. Ultraviolet light is invisible light radiation beyond the violet end of the visible light spectrum.

French usage in the 19th century gave it the meaning of "extreme". It was used politically to describe extreme royalists as "ultra-royaliste". Today we use similar words such as ultra-conservative.

Answer: nail

The Latin word "unguis", meaning finger- or toe-nail, gives us the word part ungu/o. Anything relating to the nails is described as ungual or unguinal; for example, a subungual infection occurs underneath the nails.

Answer: ointment (abbreviation)

The abbreviation "ung." stands for unguent or ointment, derived from the Latin "unguentem", having the same meaning. It is usually seen in the context of prescription of drugs. Ointments are typically oil-based mixtures (as opposed to lotions or creams which are water-based).

The abbreviation ends in a period mark or full stop and this is a matter of convention. Abbreviations that are written with the first and last letter of the word, as in Doctor (Dr) and Mister (Mr), do not require a full stop or period. However, when the abbreviation stops in the middle of a word or does not end with the last letter of the word, a full stop or period mark is used; for example, Professor (Prof.), injection (inj.), and solution (sol.).

Answer: lower arm bone

Ulna is a Latin word meaning elbow and it is the name we give to the inner and longer bone of the lower arm. The upper end of the ulna forms part of the elbow joint (the part we can feel as a bony point when the arm is bent). Note the difference between ulna (the name of the bone) and ulnar (an adjective meaning "pertaining to the ulna"). Ulnar is used to describe structures associated with the ulna, such as the ulnar artery and the ulnar nerve.

The sensation of hitting your "funny bone" is a result of hitting the ulnar nerve, which compresses it against the humerus (the upper arm bone).

The nickname "funny bone" is a pun (humorous/funny versus humerus/upper arm bone).

Answer: analysis of urine (abbreviation)

UA is the abbreviation for urinalysis or the analysis of urine.

Ancient physicians were aware that useful information about a patient's state of health could be gained from examination of the patient's urine, based on its appearance, colour, smell and, believe it or not, taste. For example, they were aware of the disease diabetes because of its major symptoms - excessive urination and the fact that the urine tasted sweet. The disease acquired the name diabetes mellitus (mellitus = honey) as a result.

Unfortunately, there were also dubious practitioners who told fortunes based upon the presence and size of bubbles in the urine. They were called uromancers or "piss-prophets". As a result, around the 17th and 18th centuries, urinalysis fell out of favour with traditional medical practitioners for a while.

Today, we realise that, although there are many diagnostic tools at the disposal of doctors (thanks to advances in science), urinanalysis can still give us useful information about a patient's state of health.

Answer: layer of the eye

The uvea is the vascular pigmented layer of the eye. It contains lots of blood vessels as well as pigments which give the eye its colour (iris) and absorb light to assist in quality of vision. The name is derived from the Latin "uva", meaning grape, because ancient physicians likened the eyeball to a grape. If you remove the stem from a grape, the resultant hole is like the pupil, the skin of the grape is like the uvea and sclera (the outermost layers of the eye), and the jellylike bulk of the eyeball (the vitreous humour) is like the flesh inside of the grape.