GREEK & LATIN ROOTS
CREATED BY MR. CASS
COOL FACTS ABOUT ROOTS
• Over 60 percent of all words in the English
dictionary are based on Greek or Latin roots.
• Roots tend to have consistent spellings
and clear meanings.
• 90 percent of English words with more
than two syllables come from Latin and Greek.
WHAT IS A ROOT?
• Roots are parts of words that have meaning.
• When joined together, roots create words.
Antidisestablishmentarianism
 How many roots can you find?
IF YOU REALLY WANT TO KNOW . . .
ANTIDISESTBLISHMENTARIANISM:
noun opposition to the withdrawal of
state support or recognition from an
established church, especially the
Anglican Church in 19th-century England.
"ANTIDISESTABLISHMENTARIANISM." Dictionary.com Unabridged. Random House, Inc. 14 Nov. 2011.
<Dictionary.com http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/ANTIDISESTABLISHMENTARIANISM>.
TYPES OF ROOTS
There are THREE types of roots:
1. Prefixes (come at the beginning of words)
 Tend to give words direction & emotional charge.
2. Bases (come in the middle of words)
 Give words their basic meaning.
3. Suffixes (come at the end of words)
 Determine the part of speech of a word.
in-struct-ion
FUNCTIONS OF PREFIXES
• A prefix can NEGATE a base
 un + able = unable (not able)
 non + sense = nonsense (doesn’t‘ make sense)
• A prefix can give a base DIRECTIONAL force
 sub + marine = submarine (under the ocean)
 ex + port = export (carry out)
• A prefix can INTENSIFY a base’s meaning.
 super + human = superhuman (more than human)
 be + jewel = bejewel (covered with jewels)
ASSIMILATION
• Sometimes the spelling of a prefix changes when it
meets a base that begins with a consonant (b,c,d,f,g).
• In this case, the final consonant of the prefix “turns into”
(ASSIMILATES) the first consonant of the base.*
• The result is a double consonant near the beginning of
the word.
ob + pose  oppose
ad + rive  arrive
in + probable  improbable*