Which combining form means uterus?

• A. Hyster/o, metr/o, uter/o
• B. Kal/o
• C. Lact/o
• D. Gonad/o

Answer: (A)

Combining forms are roots with a linking vowel used to build medical terms. For the uterus, several roots share the same meaning: hyster/o, metr/o, and uter/o all refer to the uterus. Hyster/o comes from Greek hystera, metr/o from Greek metra, and uter/o from Latin uterus. This is why terms like hysterectomy (removal of the uterus), endometrium (lining of the uterus, using metr/o), and uterine (relating to the uterus, using uter/o) all revolve around the same organ. The other roots don’t mean uterus—kal/o relates to a calyx or potassium in different contexts, lact/o means milk, and gonad/o means the gonads.