Suffix -penia denotes which concept?

• A. Deficiency
• B. Glycopenia
• C. Anemia
• D. Hypotension

Answer: (A)

-penia signals a deficiency or a decrease in number of a particular kind of cell or component. That’s why you see terms like leukopenia (few white blood cells), thrombocytopenia (few platelets), and lymphopenia (few lymphocytes)—each one names a reduced amount of something specific.

Glycopenia would be a low glucose situation, which is still the same idea in that it describes a deficiency, but the question is asking for what the suffix itself denotes. Anemia uses the suffix -emia (a blood condition) rather than -penia, and hypotension describes low blood pressure without the -penia ending. So the suffix -penia most directly means deficiency.