The suffix -oma indicates what?

• A. Tumor
• B. Mass
• C. Deficiency
• D. Record

Answer: (A)

Suffix -oma marks a tumor or neoplasm, an abnormal growth in tissue. It’s attached to the name of the tissue to indicate a tumor, as in lipoma (fat tissue tumor), osteoma (bone tumor), or melanoma (pigmented cell tumor). Because the question asks what -oma indicates, the standard and most consistent meaning is tumor, which is why that choice is the best. Other endings like -gram or -graph signal a record, and -penia signals deficiency, so they don’t fit here. (Note that there are a few exceptions in terminology, but the common teaching is that -oma = tumor.)