Greek/Latin Roots

Language Study--Inferring a Word's Definition from Its Derivative

Word Structure Analysis: Mapping a Word’s Origin Every word has a history, which you can discover by checking its etymology, or origin, in a dictionary. (Since etymologies trace a word’s history backward in time, the oldest form of the word is normally listed last.) Here is a word map for subterranean: Holt Online Textbook p. 319 When you trace word origins, you find that many words come from common roots. A ROOT is the part of a word that carries its core meaning...like the common roots listed below: Greek Roots  Meaning Example --log-- study or science of anthropology --poly-- many; much polygon --therm-- heat thermometer Latin Roots Meaning Example --cred-- belief; trust credulity (willingness to believe) --fid-- belief; faith perfidy (faithless, disloyal) --luc--, --lum-- light pellucid (easy to understand, i.e. clear) --vid--, --vis-- see; seeing video, revise Holt Online Textbook p. 319 Based on the word origins in the table above...let's see how well you can infer the definition of words you may not know.

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