What does -phagia mean in medical terms?

-phagia

Meaning: eating; swallowing

Type: Suffix

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

Example words using -phagia

dysphagia
dys- (difficult) + -phagia (swallowing) = difficulty swallowing
polyphagia
poly- (excessive) + -phagia (eating) = excessive eating or hunger

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.