Medical terms are a little trickier. The Latin itself isn't any trickier, it's just that a fair number of medical terms come from Greek words. This is partly due to the fact that scientists have borrowed equally from Greek and Latin when coining new words. Even still, your study of Latin should enable you to determine the general meaning of the following medical terms:

• Ante cibī s (before foods; i.e., meals)

• Bis in diē (twice in a day)

• Horā somnī (at the hour of sleep)

• Rigor mortis (stiffness of death)

• Sī opus sit (if there is need)

As a few of these words attest, the difficulty in reading a physician's prescription sometimes has nothing to do with sloppy handwriting. It is caused more by the fact that most physicians still write their prescriptions in Latin. And, to return to our comment about mystification, wouldn't you agree that “subcutaneous” sounds far more impressive than “under the skin”?!