LESSON 5
CAESAR’S
ENGLISH
stem definition examples
circum (around) circumference,
circumnavigate, circumspect
mal (bad) malevolent, malicious, malady
post (after) postscript, posthumous,
postgame
equi (equal) equilateral, equilibrium,
equivocate
ante (before) antecedent, anterior,
antebellum
CIRCUM – means around
A ship can circumnavigate
the Earth by sailing around it,
to be circumspect is to be
cautious and looking around,
and circumference is the
distance around a circle or
round object.
Would circuit
be a circum
word?
‘True circumnavigation of the Earth must: start and finish at
the same point, traveling in one general direction, reach two
antipodes, cross the equator, cross all longitudes, cover a
minimum of 40,000km..'
Explorers Web AdventureStats, 2007.
MAL – means bad
A malevolent person has bad
will or evil intentions, a
malady is when you feel bad,
and a malicious act is
intentionally bad.
They’re not
maliciously
malodorous!
POST – means after
A posthumous award is one
given after its recipient has died,
a postscript is the PS we put at
the bottom of a letter AFTER we
I’m feeling
languorous,
have written it, and our
so I am off to
a
posterity are our descendents have
postprandial
nap!
who come after us.
Postmodern architecture: not for
everyone…
EQUI – means equal
An equilateral triangle
has three equal sides, to
equivocate is to equally
take both sides of an
issue, and equilibrium is
a system in balance.
Equidistant
is another
equi- term.
I say .
You say .
ANTE – means before
The antebellum period is
before the war, the antecedent
is the noun that comes before
the pronoun, and the anterior
is the front part of something.
Your anterior
is opposite of
your
posterior.
Down the road towards Baton Rouge is the magnificent
Nottaway Plantation, the largest remaining antebellum
mansion in the state. Constructed in 1859 by John
Hampden Randolph of Virginia, the "White Castle," as it is
called, was designed by Irish-American Henry Howard, one
of the greatest New Orleans architects in the 1800s.
Advanced word: Circumspect
Contains the Latin stem circum (around)
and spect (look). It means cautious,
careful, on the lookout. Circumspect is an
adjective, and
so it can modify a noun or pronoun. You
can have a circumspect spy, a
circumspect answer, or a circumspect
glance. You could say “She is
circumspect.”
When the river is very low, and one's steamboat is "drawing all the water" there is in
the channel,-- or a few inches more, as was often the case in the old times, --one
must be painfully circumspect in his piloting. We used to have to "sound" a number
of particularly bad places almost every trip when the river was at a very low stage.
-from Life on the Mississippi by Mark Twain
Advanced word: Malevolence
Malevolence means being mean, having
bad (mal) will (vol) toward someone.
Malevolence is the opposite of
benevolence, which means kindness, and it
can transform into the adjective
malevolent. Shakespeare used
malevolence 400 years ago in his play
Macbeth to describe the malevolence of
fortune.”
stem definition examples
Circum around circumference
Mal bad malevolent, malicious
Post after postscript, posthumous
Equi equal equilateral, equilibrium
Ante before antecedent
Circumstances
force me to
leave now.
stem definition examples
Circum (around) circumference
Mal (bad) malevolent, malicious
Post (after) postscript, posthumous
Equi (equal) equilateral, equilibrium
Ante (before) antecedent
Before I go…
malapropism means
using big words
badly.