Building
Vocabulary
from Word
Roots
Lesson 6
Latin Bases
trac, tract, treat, and trud, trus
trac, tract, treat
The Latin base trac, tract,
treat means “pull, draw.”
The Latin base trud, trus
means “push, thrust.”
These bases to attach to
many Latin prefixes (abs-,
ad-, con-, de-, dis-, ex-, in-,
ob-, pro-, re-, sub-).
trac, tract, treat= “pull, draw”
con (together) + tract = contract—(“draw”
“together”)
When muscles contract, they draw together.
trac = trace—(“draw” something)
When you trace a picture, you are “drawing”
something.
tract+ or (something that does) = tractor—
(“something that” “pulls”)
A tractor is a machine “pulls” “things”.
re (back) + treat= retreat—(to “draw” “back”)
When troops retreat, they are “drawing” “back”
to safety.
trud, trus = “push, thrust”
abs (away from) + trus = abstruse—(“push” “away
from”)
If a topic is abstruse, you “push” “away from” it
because it is difficult to understand.
ex (out) + trud = extrude—(“push” “out”)
When you extrude toothpaste from the tube,
you are “pushing” it “out.”
pro (forward) + trud = protrude— (something that
is “thrust” “forward”)
If you have a hernia, then an organ is protruding,
or “thrusting” “forward”, through the abdomen
wall.
After subtracting its cost from her limited
budget, she had to retract her offer to buy the
expensive vanilla extract.
How do each of the bolded words mean
“pull, draw”?
The uninvited intruder tripped over a
protruding chair that stopped her from
further intrusion.
How do each of the bolded words mean
“push, thrust”?
Consider the meaning of the bases and respond to
the following questions, making sure to include
the base meaning in your answer.
What does it mean for a dog to trace a scent?
What is the difference between a dog tracing a
scent and simply being attracted to a scent?
What might keys look like if they are
protruding from under a couch cushion?
A common ingredient in baking is vanilla
extract. What does the word extract indicate
about the process of making this ingredient?