Medical Suffix

-megaly

enlargement

From Greek megas (megal-), large, via New Latin -megalia

Meaning

What does -megaly mean?

-megaly is a suffix meaning enlargement. It comes from Greek megas (megal-), large, via New Latin -megalia.

It starts with a consonant, so the root keeps its vowel: hepatomegaly, splenomegaly, cardiomegaly.

In real words

adrenomegaly
1. Rootadren/oadrenal glands
2. Suffix-megalyenlargement
enlargement of the adrenal glands
hepatomegaly
1. Roothepat/oliver
2. Suffix-megalyenlargement
an enlarged liver
splenomegaly
1. Rootsplen/ospleen
2. Suffix-megalyenlargement
enlargement of the spleen
cardiomegaly
1. Rootcardi/oheart
2. Suffix-megalyenlargement
an enlarged heart
karyomegaly
1. Rootkary/onucleus
2. Suffix-megalyenlargement
an increase in the size of a cell's nucleus
visceromegaly
1. Rootviscer/ointernal organs, viscera
2. Suffix-megalyenlargement
abnormal enlargement of internal organs such as the liver or spleen (organomegaly)

Sources

Written for biofideX in plain words, after checking these references:

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Practice it

-megaly is one of 15 parts in this lesson. Learn them together, then take real words apart.