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At first glance, medical terminology can seem like a foreign language. But often the key to understanding medical terms is focusing on their components (prefixes, roots, and suffixes). For example, "mastitis" is composed of the prefix "mast-" or "masto-" meaning breast and the suffix "-itis" meaning inflammation.Therefore, mastitis literally means "inflammation of the breast "Knowing the meaning of a small number of components can help with interpretation of a large number of medical terms.