The suffix -al means which of the following?

• A. Pain
• B. Without
• C. Pertaining to
• D. Inflammation

Answer: (C)

The suffix -al marks something as pertaining to or relating to the base noun. In medical terms, it turns a word into an adjective that describes a relationship to a body part or system. For example, renal means pertaining to the kidney, muscular means pertaining to muscle, and neural means pertaining to nerves. It isn’t used to indicate pain (that’s -algia) or inflammation (-itis), or to mean absence. So the best meaning of the suffix is “pertaining to.”