Word roots

Working with words: Word roots

 

Having a good knowledge of these word elements is very helpful when you want to work out the meanings of unfamiliar words. This page focuses on word roots. Many roots in English words come from Latin or Greek words. Knowing word roots will help you to learn or guess the meanings of new words.

 

Latin

Greek

Root

Meaning

Examples

Root

Meaning

Examples

 

aud

 

hear

 

audience, audition

 

auto

 

self

 

autonomy, automatic

cede

move, go

concede, recede, precede

bio

life

biology, biodegradable

duc/duct

lead

education, conduct, reduce

chron

time

chronological, chronic

port

carry

transport, report, portable

path

feeling

apathetic, sympathy

spect

look

spectator, spectacle

phobia

fear

claustrophobia

vert

turn

convert, revert

phon

sound

symphony, telephone

vis

see

vision, visible, visual

soph

wisdom

philosophy, sophisticated

 

 

 

Replace the underlined words in each sentence with a similar word containing the root.

 

 

 

Last updated on: Monday, March 26, 2012