Which combining form is used to denote cartilage?

• A. Hydr/o
• B. Leuk/o
• C. Chondr/o
• D. Eti/o

Answer: (C)

Cartilage is indicated by the combining form chondr/o. It comes from Greek chondros meaning cartilage, and the o- vowel lets you attach suffixes to form terms about cartilage, such as chondritis (inflammation of cartilage) or chondroma (a cartilage tumor). The other roots point to different meanings: hydr/o relates to water, leuk/o to white blood cells, and eti/o to cause or origin. So chondr/o is the form used specifically for cartilage.