What is oophoropathy?

1 Answer

Let's look to the Greeks for help!

Explanation:

If you look at any medical term, you'll quickly realize that they consist of affixes, that is, the words are made from different components. They're typically derived from Latin, or Greek, because these were the first civilizations to begin describing the natural world around them. Funnily enough, they were so effective that a lot of their words are still in use today.

The word oophoropathy consists of both a prefix and a suffix that are both derived from Greek.

When ever you see the suffix -pathy, you can be certain you're dealing with a branch that in this context pertains to disease. It's origin, páthos, literally means 'suffering'.

As for the prefix, oophor/o, it's derived from the Greek ōophoros which translates as 'egg-bearing', and is used to describe the ovaries.

When we put these two back together, we have oophoropathy, or 'ovarian disease'.