Which term denotes a surgical opening?

• A. Stoma
• B. Spir
• C. Stat
• D. -Stomy

Answer: (D)

In medical terminology, suffixes often signal what kind of procedure or feature is involved. The ending -stomy indicates the surgical creation of an opening. It’s the suffix that conveys that a new passage is being formed, as in colostomy or ileostomy. The actual opening itself, the hole that remains on the body, is called a stoma, not the procedure. Other roots here don’t relate to creating openings: spir isn’t about openings, and stat isn’t about forming openings either. So the best term for the surgical opening concept is the suffix -stomy.