What does -gen mean in medical terms?

-gen

Meaning: producer; substance that produces

Type: Suffix

A suffix goes at the very end of a word, after the root. On this page: what -gen means, and real medical words that use it, each broken down into its parts.

Example words using -gen

pathogen
patho (disease) + -gen (producer) = a substance or organism that produces disease
allergen
allerg (allergy) + -gen (producer) = a substance that produces an allergic reaction

Shortened forms

Charts and notes shorten long terms — see the Medical Abbreviations guide for the short forms you will meet in real records.

Please note: This section teaches the language of medicine — what word parts mean and how terms are built. It is an educational reference, not medical advice. For the meaning of a word in your own medical record, ask the clinician who wrote it.