VOCABULARY

Greek and Latin Root Words

Greek and Latin root words

Greek and Latin root words are most important when learning and improving your English vocabulary.

Root words should not be overlooked when it comes to improving your vocabulary or preparing for exams.

Many roots in English can be traced back to the other languages from which they were “borrowed” and adopted into English. Many English words have Greek or Latin roots.

By learning the following root words, your ability to recognize unknown English words will greatly increase!!

This is extremely important when it comes to the vocabulary section of the Michigan Proficiency Exams. This page was my first attempt at gathering this information. The following pages provide more detailed and complete Greek and Latin root words list.

ROOT               MEANING                 EXAMPLES

administerexercise poweradministered
annus,ennyearbiennial,annual
anthroposmankindanthropology, misanthropic, philanthropic
apprehendarrest, understandapprehension
ardburnardent
audaxboldeness, lack of respectaudacity
audhear/soundaudible
auxilihelpauxiliarum
bibliobookbibliography
cedogoprecede, succeed, intercede
chronostimechronology,synchronize
claudoshutinclude, preclude, exclusive
communcommoncommon, communist
concludfinishconclusion
confidtrustconfident
confitadmitconfession
consequthat which followsconsecutive
constitumade ofconstitution
curacarecurator, sinecure
decidedecidedecision
defenddefenddefend
detterpreventdeter
defenddefenddefend,defense
deciddecidedecision
egoI / selfegotist, egocentric
feroto carrytransfer, refer, differ
fidfaithfidelity, confidence,
fluoflowfluent, fluid, influence
gnostosknowagnostic, recognizance
haeroto stickcohere, adhere
integhonorintegrity
jaciothrowreject, interject
laudpraiselaudable, applaud
linguatonguebilingual, linguistic
loquto talkeloquent
maniamadnessmaniac, egomania
metronmeasuremeter, speedometer
muruswallmoralistic, intramural
nihilnothingannihilate, nihilist
obligatmustobligation
optikosvisionoptician, optical
onusweightonus
ovumeggoval, ovary
pedfootpedestrian, pedal. impede
pendhangpendant, dependent
persuadpersuadepersuade
phobiafearclaustrophobia, phobia
phonesoundstereophonic, phoneme,
pliaofoldpleat, application, pliable, imply
postafterposterity
pusfootoctopus
presspushrepress, depress
providvisionprovisional, provision
relinqleave, abandonrelinquish
residuremnantresidue, residual
resiststand againstresistant
scendclimbtranscend, ascend, descend
secocutsector, section, insect
sedsitsediment, sedate residence
sedplant / reproducesperm, sporadic
sentiofeelsentimental, resent, consent
sophoswisesophistication
spectuslookretrospective, inspect, spectacles
tactustouchtactile, contact
thermeheatthermometer, thermos
urbocitysuburban
vertoturninversion, revert, convert
vivlivevivid, vital

To go to the next page of greek and latin root words click on the preceding link. The next page contains a complete list of Greek and Latin root words from A-E.