Roots words and creating combinations
I want you to take this part slowly but do not be intimidated by this. Remember how the
alphabet represents sounds? These sounds (made up in the alphabet) are put together and
make small units of meaning. We speak or right to each other so we can communicate
something and allow others to understand our thoughts. So the alphabet and these sounds
are put together to create small units of meaning and here you begin to build words, ideas.
Think of this like building blocks; one block next to another, next to another and soon you
have a whole wall – words.
Remember that words in the English language are born from other languages? Do not be
intimidated by this because you know these words more than you think you do. Now we
will look at how small seemingly strange sounds are put together to form many different
types of word
Prefixes (at the beginning)
+
word root
+
suffixes (at the end)
WORD ROOT
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These are the smallest units that form a word and can stand alone; each word needs
a root.
Root is a word from which other words grow; usually by adding prefix or suffix
Words that can stand alone = FREE ROOT
Free root + free root = COMPOUND ROOT (a word can have more than one free
root)
Free roots do not have to be in the middle of the word; they can occur in the
beginning, middle or end of the word.
BOUND ROOT
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Are roots that cannot stand alone but rely on a free root to make sense
Prefixes and suffixes are often bound roots
Learning roots
It may feel as if you are learning another language, remember how many relatives the
English language has? You will also be surprised how many of these Latin and Greek words
you already know. Once you know these roots you will be able to spell longer words that
seem complicated. Learning these roots will also help you figure the meaning of word you
may not have heard before so take it one step at a time and have fun discovering and
inventing words.
Here are a few roots to start with. See how many words you can find in creating
combinations with these units of meaning or roots.
Root
arch
archaeo
aster/astra
audi
bene
bio
Biblio
brev
chloro
chrono
cine, kine
derm
dic/dict
fer
fix
gen
geo
Graph or gram
hemo
herb
hydro
hyper
hypno
jur/just
Lex
log/logue
mania
manu
mega
meta
meter
micro
Meaning
chief, primary or first
ancient/primitive
Star
Hear
good/well
Life
Book
Short
Green
Time
Movement
Skin
Speak
Carry
Fasten
Birth
Earth
Write
Blood
Plants
Water
over, above, excess
Sleep
Law
Word
word/thought
mad, crazy,
obsession
Hand
Large or excessive
Besides, after, later,
beyond
Measure
Small
neg
neo
ocu
olig
op/oper
osteo
path
ped
phil
phys
pod
Polis. Pol
proto
pseudo
scrib/script
Scope
sect
sol
struct
tact
tele
ter/terr
theo
thermo or them
vac
ver
verb
vid/vis
zoo
No
New
Eye
Few
Work
Bone
Feeling or emotion
Child
Love
body/nature
Foot
City or government
First
False
Write
To watch or to see
Cut
alone or sun
Build
Touch
far off
Earth
God
Heat or hot
Empty
Truth
Word
See
Animal
There are many more roots you will learn over time; it takes time to learn any language. By
using these roots, you can make combination:
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auto(self)+bio(life)+graphy(write)= writing about your life (autobiography)
tele (far)+phone(hear)= to hear far (telephone)
zoo(animal)+ology(study of)= study of animals (zoology)
Using these roots you can create many words; even the long intimidating words can be
simply created and learned in this way.
You can them add bound roots (prefixes and suffixes) to your roots and you can start to
create new words. you can give gender to words, give tense, make the negative of words
and give an impression of time using prefixes and suffixes so have with them.
Let me show you what I mean: take the word account
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change tense: account (present tense) > accounted (past tense)
change part of speech: accounts (verb) >accountant (noun)
giving form to a word: accountant
Let us try something with the word capitalism
Capit (head - root) +al (suffix – bound root) = capital (most important) and (adjective)
What about audio
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create a new word: audio (hear) +ology(the study of) =audiology (the study of
hearing)
a root can have both a prefix and suffix added: in+audio+able = inaudible (not able to
be heard)
In the next chapters we will look at prefixes and suffixes. I cannot say enough that you
should not be intimidated by the simple, single sounds that seem to make no sense.
Remember that when you put, roots together and then add prefixes or suffices you can
have a lot of fun creating countless number of words. This is a great way of expanding your
vocabulary.