The combining form oste/o refers to which body part?

• A. Liver
• B. Muscle
• C. Bone
• D. Nose

Answer: (C)

The main idea here is recognizing which body part a combining form refers to. Oste/o means bone, so it is used in terms that relate to bone tissue, often linking with a suffix or another root to form a complete medical term. For example, osteoarthritis refers to a joint condition involving bone, osteoblast is a cell that builds bone, and osteoporosis describes weakened bone density. Because the other options correspond to different body parts—liver (hepat/o), muscle (my/o), and nose (nas/o or rhin/o)—they don’t use the combining form oste/o. So bone is the correct body part indicated by oste/o.