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Review important roots and affixes and learn vocabulary strategies associated with these morphemes.
Parsing roots and affixes (prefixes and suffixes) can help determine the meaning of other complex words.
It’s All Greek to Me
Many words of Greek origin have come to English via other languages. Everyday words derived from Greek offer a starting point from which to understand more difficult words. Greek affixes and roots often appear in combination with each other. For example:
epi (on, at, besides, after) + temnein (to cut) = epitome
eu (good, well) + phanai (speech) = euphemism
eu (good, well) + phor (to bear) = euphoria, euphoric
meta (beyond) + phor (to bear) = metaphor
soph (wise) + moros (fool) = sophomore, sophomoric
Here is a chart including several other examples.
|
Root |
Affix |
Example |
|
anthropo (man) |
logia (study) |
anthropology |
|
sunkrasis (mixture) |
idio (personal, private) |
idiosyncratic |
|
morph (form, shape) |
meta (beyond) |
metamorphosis |
|
gyne (woman) |
mis (hate, wrong) |
misogyny |
|
glotta (language, tongue) |
poly (many) |
polyglot |
For Latin Lovers
As with Greek, Latin roots and affixes most often appear in combination. For example:
bene (good, well) + dicere (to speak) = benediction
con (with, together) + vincere (conquer) = convince, conviction
e (out) + ducere (to lead) = educe, educate
inter (between) + capere (to take, seize) = intercede, intercept
male (bad) + velle (to want) = malevolence, malevolent
Here is a chart including several other examples:
|
Root |
Affix |
Example |
|
mittere (to send) |
ad (to, toward) |
admit, admission |
|
cedere (to go) |
ante (before) |
antecede, antecedent |
|
libra (scale) |
de (down) |
deliberate, deliberation |
|
sistere (tostand) |
per (through) |
persist |
|
cernere (to sift) |
se (apart) |
secrete, secret |
Greek and Latin: Uneasy Bedfellows
As you probably noticed, English sometimes uses duplicate roots and affixes adopted from Greek and Latin. For example, a polyglot is multilingual. Don’t be deceived, however; not all duplications are synonyms. For example, benedictions and euphemisms are two different ways of speaking well. More important, the Greek root moros (fool) is a homophone of the Latin root mor (custom).
Going Native: Anglo-Saxon
Anglo-Saxon roots and affixes comprise the smallest group in the English language. Here are some common affixes:
be (make, cause to be) = belittle, berate, besmirch
for (completely) = forbid, forever, forlorn, forgive, forget
fore (before, in front of) = forego, foreman, foresight
some (characterized by) = lithesome, wholesome, handsome
Which of the following words means “to do without”?
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