Which form denotes the skin?

• A. Cori
• B. Con
• C. Coll
• D. Cle

Answer: (A)

In medical terminology, parts of the body are indicated by combining forms that come from Latin or Greek. The form that denotes skin comes from corium, the true skin layer—the dermis—understanding the epidermis. Because corium means skin, the combining form derived from it is used to signal skin in terms. That makes this form the one that refers to skin. The other forms don’t point to skin: con- is a prefix idea of together or with, coll- relates to glue or collagen, and cle is a diminutive suffix. So the form derived from corium—cori-—is the one that denotes the skin.