Boost Your English Vocabulary With Greek and Latin Root Words PDF
Boost Your English Vocabulary With Greek and Latin Root Words
Greek & Latin Root Words
In English grammar, a root is a word or part of a word from which other words come, usually by adding prefixes and suffixes. By learning root words, you can decipher unfamiliar words, expand your vocabulary and speak better English.
Learning root words in English not only helps you get good grades in the verbal ability section of competitive exams, but also helps you hone your English vocabulary in general.
What is the Root Words?
The root word is a word that forms the basis of new words by adding affixes (prefixes or suffixes). This is the most basic part of any word. The basic structure of the roots is either attached or suffixed and then they become a new word. Understanding common root words will help you accurately guess the meaning of recently known words and, in turn, strengthen your vocabulary.
The Roots of Words
Most of the words in the English language are based on words from Ancient Greek and Latin. The root of the word "dictionary", for example, is wok, a Latin root meaning "word" or "name." This root is also found in words such as "protection", "calling", "evocative", "vocals" and "vowel". By analyzing such words, etymologists can study how the word has evolved over time and tell us about the cultures from which they originated.
In some cases, root words may transform slightly to become part of familiar words. In the example above, "vowel" is a word that is clearly associated with the vocal root and its family of derived words, but there is no "c" in the word "voc". There are several reasons for this kind of pattern, and the changes often depend on which language each individual word occurs in, but this serves as a reminder that not every word will be the same with the same root.
Root words are also useful for creating unique words, specially in medicine and technology, where new innovations are often encountered. Think of the Greek root word for “body,” which means far, and inventions that can travel long distances, such as the telegraph, telephone, and television. The word "technology" is itself refers to two other Greek root words, technique, meaning "skill" or "art," and logo, meaning "study."
Since several modern languages have the same ancestor languages, it is not uncommon for several related languages to share common root words. For example, the Latin vocal root described above is used in several Romance languages. Connections between languages can be found in common roots between them, although you should always be wary of false related words, that is, words that sound like they have the same roots (and therefore related meanings), but in fact they not.
- Greek Root Words
- Latin Root Words
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