Latin and Greek Roots That Unlock English Vocabulary

A large share of English's more formal and technical vocabulary comes from Latin and Greek, often by way of French. Learn a handful of roots and long, intimidating words start to look familiar.

Why roots matter

A root carries the core meaning of a word. Add a prefix or suffix, and you get a family: dict (say) gives dictate, predict, contradict, dictionary and verdict. Each word makes more sense once you know the root.

Twenty useful roots

From Latin

• spect (look): inspect, spectator, perspective, retrospect
• port (carry): transport, portable, export, import
• dict (say): predict, dictate, contradict
• scrib / script (write): describe, manuscript, subscribe, script
• struct (build): construct, destruction, structure
• rupt (break): interrupt, erupt, bankrupt
• ject (throw): reject, project, inject, eject
• mit / miss (send): submit, mission, transmit, dismiss
• cred (believe): incredible, credit, credentials
• aud (hear): audience, audible, auditorium
• vid / vis (see): video, vision, evidence, visible
• ped (foot): pedestrian, pedal, centipede
• terra (earth): territory, terrain, terrace

From Greek

• bio (life): biology, biography, antibiotic
• geo (earth): geography, geology, geometry
• graph (write, draw): photograph, autograph, graphic
• chron (time): chronology, synchronise, chronic
• phon (sound): telephone, symphony, microphone
• tele (far): television, telescope, telepathy
• logy (study of): biology, psychology, technology
• path (feeling, suffering): sympathy, empathy, pathology

How to use roots

1. Spot the root in an unfamiliar word.
2. Add the prefix and suffix meanings.
3. Guess the sense.
4. Check it against the context and a dictionary.

For example, inaudible: in- (not) + aud (hear) + -ible (able to be). "Not able to be heard." ✓

Beware of drift

Word meanings shift over time, so a word's modern meaning isn't always the sum of its parts. Nice comes from a Latin word meaning "ignorant", which is nothing like its present sense. Roots are helpful hints, not guarantees.

Roots in science and medicine

Technical vocabulary is full of Greek and Latin roots. Cardiology is cardio (heart) plus -logy (study of). Dermatitis is dermat (skin) plus -itis (inflammation). Knowing the roots makes new terms easier to remember.

Building a root notebook

Keep a page for each root you learn, with a few example words and their meanings. When you meet a new word using the root, add it. Over months, your notebook becomes a map.

For exam prep

Roots help enormously with vocabulary questions in competitive exams, where many of the harder words have Latin or Greek origins.

Practice

Choose three roots from the list above, and find five more words containing each in a dictionary. Write a sentence for each.

Explore word origins and families with English Dictionary →