What is the meaning of the suffix dynia?

• A. Pain
• B. Without
• C. Pertaining to
• D. Abnormal condition

Answer: (A)

Dynia signals pain in a specific area. It comes from Greek odyn, meaning pain, and when attached to the name of a body part it indicates that there is pain in that part. For example, odontodynia means tooth pain, cephalodynia means head pain, and otodynia means ear pain. Because it directly conveys the sense of pain, it is the best fit for the meaning asked. Other suffixes describe different ideas—absence (a-/an-), characteristic of (such as -al or -ic), or abnormal/disease states (-osis, -iasis)—so they don’t capture the idea of pain in a region.