Quiz on Friday, October 2nd!
If you knew the most important
Greek and Latin roots, you would
seldom have to consult the dictionary
for the meanings of words, for words
define themselves if you have the
clues.
—Amsel Greene
Word Clues
• The study of the origins and
histories of words or parts of
words to determine how
they’ve arrived at their current
meaning
• The origin of a word
• -ology: study of
• -logist: refers to one who
studies
• Examples: anthropology,
anthropologist, biology,
biologist, archaeologist,
geology, zoology, etymology
• One who studies the origin,
and the physical, social, and
cultural development of
humans
• The anthropologist traveled to
remote lands to compare
different cultures.
• human being; humankind
• miso: hate
• phil: love
• anthrop: humankind
• miso + anthrop = misanthrope
• phil + anthrop = philanthropy
• One who detests or distrusts
humankind
• Scrooge was a misanthrope
who lived alone, horded his
money, and refused to give his
employees a holiday.
• biblio: book
• path: feeling or disease
• mono-: one
• a-: without
• A book lover or collector of
books
• Writer Jamaica Kincaid, like
many bibliophiles, has
trouble parting with books she
loves; as a child, she even
stole books from the library
and hid them under the porch.
• Of a single color
• Painted, decorated, or printed
in a single color
• Picasso’s Blue Period was
marked by monochromatic
paintings, painted almost
entirely in light and dark
shades of blue.
• Uttered or performed in one,
unvaried tone
• Uninteresting or boring as a
result of being repetitive and
unvaried
• The narrator’s monotonous
tone put me to sleep halfway
through the documentary.
• Lack of emotion, feeling, or
interest
• The goal of groups like Rock
the Vote is to eliminate voter
apathy by encouraging
younger voters to develop an
interest in politics.
• The ability to understand or
share somebody’s feelings
• The woman sent her neighbor
a sympathy card after the
death of her father.
• Feelings of anger, hostility,
opposition, or disgust directed
toward a particular person or thing
• A strong feeling of aversion,
repugnance, or opposition
• The woman’s obvious
antipathy toward snakes
surfaced when the reptile
slithered across her path.
No knowledge of a science can be
properly acquired until the
terminology of that science is
mastered, and this terminology is in
the main of Greek and Latin origin.
—Spencer Trotter
Head of Biological Department, Swarthmore College
1888-1926