The suffix -osis indicates which of the following?

• A. Abnormal condition, disease
• B. Inflammation
• C. Surgical removal
• D. Cutting into, surgical incision

Answer: (A)

The main idea is that the suffix -osis signals an abnormal condition or disease state, often describing a process or pathology in a body part. It tells you that the word refers to a condition rather than an action or a procedure. For example, cirrhosis describes a diseased, scarred liver, and nephrosis denotes an abnormal kidney condition. This is different from -itis, which means inflammation (like dermatitis), from -ectomy, which means surgical removal (like appendectomy), or from -otomy (or -tomy), which means cutting into (like gastrotomy). So the suffix -osis points to a disease or abnormal condition.