The Roots of English

Digging up the past for meanings

One of the best things for any writer to do is expand his or her vocabulary. Writing that relies on a limited set of words becomes tiresome for readers — unless the book is by Dr. Seuss.

The quickest way to add variety to the language within a work is to buy a thesaurus or use the one included with your computer’s operating system or word processor. Readers learn new words through context, assuming a writer does not overuse this power. One tip: do not replace a word you know with a word you do not know.

Writers wanting to expand their vocabularies should consider the following:

Read anything, especially articles on topics with which they lack familiarity;
Work crossword puzzles, without using crossword dictionaries;
Play games such as Scrabble® to exercise vocabulary and spelling; and
Learn the origin of many English words, also known as “roots.”

Uncovering Roots

Words are composed of pieces: prefixes, suffixes, and bases (also known as root words). The English language borrows word pieces from dozens of other languages. The most common prefixes, suffixes, and roots originated with the Latin and Greek languages.

Prefixes

The word prefix means added before or affixed to the front. Most prefixes are one or two syllables. In the following chart, prefixes following a semicolon are uncommon.

Prefix	Meaning	Example	Definition
a, ab	from, not	absent	away from
ad; ac, ag, al, at	to, toward	adhere	stick to
ante	before	antecedent	one’s ancestry, past life
bi	two, halves	bisect	to cut into two pieces
cent; centi	hundred or hundredth	centimeter	one hundredth of a meter
circum	around, round	circumvent	to surround or circle around
com; col, con, cor	together, with	combine collate	unite, join, mix together to gather together in proper order
con	opposite, away from	contrary	opposed, opposite in nature
contra, counter	against, opposed to	counterpart	one’s opposite
de	from, down	descend	to come down or go down
dis; di, dif	apart, from, not	disengage	to release or loosen, not in gear
e, ex; ec, ef	out, from	expand	to move outward
extra	beyond, outside	extraterrestrial	from beyond the earth (terra = earth)
il, im, in, ir	in, into, or not	irreplaceable	not replaceable
inter	between	interpersonal	between two or more people
intra	within	intramural	within the limits of a city or college
mill	thousand	millennium	a thousand years
multi	many	multifaceted	having many sides or faces
non	not	nonsense	without logic
ob, op; oc, of	in front of, against	opposition	either philosophically or physically aligned against another
omni	all, every	omniscient	having complete or infintite knowladge
per	through, by	perennial	lasting through a year
post	after	postpone	to put off
pre	before	prehistoric	before written records
pro	in favor of, forward	propel	to move forward
re	back, again	revise	to look at again
se	apart	seclude	to keep apart
semi	half	semiannual	every half year
sub; suc, suf, sug, sum	under, before	submarine	beneath the ocean
super, sur	above, over	supervisor	looking over or looking from above
trans	across, beyond	transport	to move from a location
tri	three	triumvirate	three men ruling one government
ultra	beyond	ultraviolet	light waves beyond the visible spectrum
un, unus, una, unum, o	one	unanimous	of one opinion or mind
vice	in place of	viceroy	a governor or ruler acting in place of or on behalf of a monarch

Latin Roots

Many English words are derived from Latin verb roots.

Root	Meaning	Example	Definition
ag, act, ig	do, act, drive	react	to act or do again
au, aud	hear, sound	audible	something loud enough to be heard
cap, capt, cept, cip	take, seize, hold	capture	to take by force or surprise
ced, cess	go, yield	recession	going back or receding
cide	to kill, cut down, or murder	homicide	a killing of one human being by another
claus, clud, clus	shut, close	conclude	to bring to a close or ending
cred	believe, true	credible	believable, reliable
cur, curs	run	cursory	hastily done
deus, dei	God	deity	God or Goddess
dic, dict	say, speak	dictate	to speak or read aloud
duc, duct	lead, draw	deduce	to solve or trace the derivation or origin of
fac, fact, fy	make, do	manufacture	the making of goods or articles by hand or by machine
fer	bear, carry	transfer	to carry from one person or place to another
fract, frag, frang	break	fragment	to break into pieces
grad, gress, gred	go, walk, step	ingress	to step into, enter; the act of entering
jac, jact, ject	throw, cast	reject	to discard or throw out
jug, junct	join	junction	a joining or being joined
leg, lect	read	lecture	to give a prepared informative talk to an audience
loqu, locut	speak, talk	elucidate	to make clear, explain
mir	to look at, to wonder at	mirage	anything that does no exist
mit, miss	send, cast	remit	to send back, to include in a response back
pell, puls	drive	repulse	to drive back, repel
pend, pems	hang, weigh	depend	to rely on for support or aid
pon, pos, posit	put, place	position	to put in a specific place
port, portat	carry, bear	transport	to carry from one place to another
rupt	break	interrupt	to break into or in upon
sci	to know	science	knowladge based on observed facts
scrib, script	write	transcribe	to write out or type out in full
sect	cut	dissect	to cut in half
sequ, secut	follow, behind	sequence	to arrange in a specific order based on a logical succession
spec, spic, spect	see, look at	inspect	to look at carefully, especially in order to detect flaws
sta, sist, stat	stand	resist	to stand firm against, fend off
tang, tact	touch	contact	to get in touch with
tend, tens, tent	stretch, strain	extend	to stretch out, enlarge
tort, tor, torqu	twist, turn	torture	to twist or distort a meaning; to cause pain
trah, tract	draw	retract	to draw back or in, to withdraw
ven, vent	come, arrive	invent	to devise or create for the first time
vert, vers	turn	revert	to go back in action, thought, speech, or condition
vid, vis	see, look at	visualize	to form a mental image of
viv, vic, vict	live	revive	to come or bring back to life
voc	call, speak	vocalize	to express with the voice
volv, volut	turn around, roll	revolve	to rotate or spin

Greek Roots

Root	Meaning	Example	Definition
a, an	not	anarchy	without structure or form
anti	against	antithesis	opposite in theory
archeos	ancient, old, original	archaeology	scientific study of the people, customs, and life of ancient times
auto	self	autobiography	telling the story of one’s life
biblio	books, of books	bibliography	a list of books, artices, etc., about a particluar subject or person
bio	life	biology	the science of life
caco	bad, poor, evil	cacophony	succession of harsh, lashing sounds
chron	time	chronological	in order of time
dec	ten	decimal	based upon portions of ten or tenths
dem	people	demographics	the representations of people through statistics
derm, derma	skin	hypodermic	under the skin
eu	well, good	euphoric	to have a good sensation or to be of good humor
exo	outside, outer part	exogamy	custom of marrying only outside of one’s own tribe or group (Exoskeleton was too easy!)
ge	earth	geography	to mark or record land formations
gen	race, kind	genus	any group of similar things
graph	write, draw	telegraph	to draw remotely
hemo	blood	hemorrhage	discharge of blood
hiero	sacred, holy	hieroglyphics	picture, character or symbol standing for a word, idea or sound
hyper	over, extremely	hyperbole	an exaggerated statemant used especially as a figure of speech for rhetorical effect
hypo	under, in smaller measure	hypocrisy	pretending to be what one is not
ideo	idea	ideologue	person occuied with ideas
log, logy	speech, reason	logical	with sound reason, demonstrable
metr, meter	measure	metric	any measurement system
micro	small	microscope	a tool for viewing items too small to be seen with the naked eye
miso	to hate	misogyny	hatred of women
necro	physical death, corpse	necropolis	cemetary
olig	few, scant, small	oligarchy	few people have the ruling power in a form of government
ology	to discuss formally	geology	to study the origins of land and soil
pan	all	panorama	a wide, unbroken view of a surrounding region
peri	around	perimeter	the outer boundry of a surface or figure
phage	eating, destroying	phagocytosis	process in which a cell surrounds and consumes another cell or solid matter
phil	loving	philanthropic	charitable
phob	fear, dread	phobia	a persistent, abnormal, or irrationa fear of a certain thing
phon	sound	phonetic	of or having to do with speech sounds
polis	city	metropolis	a large city
poly	many	polygon	a multi-sided object or form
pseudo	false, fake	pseudonym	a fictitious name used by by an author instead of his or her real name
pyr	fire	pyromaniac	person who has an uncontrollable desire to set things on fire
tele	distant, away	telegram	messege sent by telegraph

Common Suffixes

Like prefixes, suffixes are roots added to base words.

Suffix	Meaning	Example	Definition
able, ible	capable of	terrible	causing great fear
ance, ence	act or state of	pestilence	infectious or contagious epidemic disease that spreads rapidly
ant, ent	one who, pertaining to	ambivalent	acting in different ways
cer	one who, pertaining to	dancer	one who dances
dom	quality of, state of	kingdom	nation ruled by a king
ee	one who is	employee	one who is employed
en	to make	fasten	to fasten
ess	female	princess	daughter of a king or queen
ful	full of, characterized by	hopeful	optimistic
hood	quality of, state of	motherhood	being a mother
ian	one who, pertaining to	martian	a being from Mars
ion, tion	action, state of, result of	attention	state of focus
ish	like, similar to	childish	acting like a child
ity	quality of, state of	purity	state of cleanliness
less	without	worthless	having no value
ly	in the manner of	happily	in a cheerful way
ment	action, state of, result of	containment	trapped without escape
ness	quality of, state of	greatness	being extraordinary
or	one who, pertaining to	vendor	person who sells
ous, y	full of, characterized by	dangerous	unsafe
ship	skill, state, quality	friendship	state of trust
tude	quality of, state of	multitude	large number of something

Numbers

	English Cardinal	Latin	English Ordinal	Latin	English Distributive	Latin	Greek
1	one	unus	first	primus	singular, primary	singuli	monos, mono
2	two	duo	second	secundus	binary, secondary	bini	di
3	three	tres	third	tertius	tertiary	terni
4	four	quattuor	fourth	quartus		quaterni
5	five	quinque	fifth	quintus		quini	penta
6	six	sex	sixth	sextus		seni	hex
7	seven	septem	seventh	septimus		septeni	hepta
8	eight	octo	eighth	octavus		octoni	oct
9	nine	novem	nineth	nonus		noveni	non
10	ten	decem	tenth	decimus		deni	deca
20	twnety	viginti	twentieth	vicesimus		viceni
100	hundred	centum	hundredth	centesimus		centeni	cent
1,000	thousand	mille	thousandth	millesimus		milia	kilo
	many						poly

The Body

English
body	corpus
head	caput
arm	bracchium, armare
leg	crus
foot	ped
hand	manus
eye	oculus
mouth	bucca
skin	cutis, pellis
tooth	dens
ear	auricilla, auris, spicus
hair	capillus, capillago
blood	sanguis

The Roots of English