On Fri, 27 May 2016, Julie Bove wrote:
>
> I don't know what paresis is. I did look it up. Means partial paralysis.

many common medical terms have Latin or Greek word origins;

"gastroparesis" comes from two words;

gastro = "of or relating to the stomach"
paresis = "a condition of muscular weakness caused by nerve damage or
disease; partial paralysis."
His using "paresis" may have been shorthand for the full term,
"gastroparesis".

another example is when you see "-itis" at the end of a medical
term, it's an "inflammation of"

"gastritis" is an inflammation of the stomach.
(gastr(o) and itis)

"appendicitis" is an inflammation of the appendix.
(appendi(x) and (c)itis)

It helps to know some of these Latin word parts so when we go to the
doctor and they give us some medical diagnosis, we can have a clue of what
it is, without having to resort to a dictionary.

<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_medical_roots,_suffixes_and_prefixes>