Root Words

​Greek & Latin Roots In English

​What is english made of?

​a germanic language - 게르만어파

English is a language that has a lot of influences. It is a Germanic Language, so its cousins are German and Dutch.

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However, English has been influenced by French, Latin, Greek, and many other languages.

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Root words

​let's learn some roots!

In English, the shorter words are often Germanic, but the longer words may be from other languages.

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Knowing the "roots" (어근) of the words can help you guess their meanings.

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Television

Telescope

Telephone

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At the beginning, you can see Tele-

Tele- means far.

​look at these words:

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Bicycle

Binary

Binoculars

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Bi- is at the beginning of these words.

Bi- means two.

​look at these words:

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Aquarium

Aquatic

Aquarius

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Aqu- is at the beginning.

Aqu- means water.

​look at these words:

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Multiple Choice

What root is the same in all of these words?

Monochrome, Monotone, Monopoloy

• Mono

• Chrome

• Mo

• Poly

​mono = one

Multiple Choice

What root is the same in all of these words?

Binocular, Bicycle, Bifocals

• Bino

• Bi

• Bicy

• Cle

Multiple Choice

What root is the same in all of these words?

Democracy, Democrat, Pandemic

• Democr

• Mocr

• Pan

• Dem

​demo - people

​pyro - fire

​geo - earth

​micro - small

​Roots can also go in the middle or at the end of words.

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Television - vis / vid means "see"

Telescope - scope means "watch" or "see"

Telephone - phon /phono means "sound"

Multiple Choice

Which root is the same for all of these words?

Kilometer, Odometer, Hydrometer

• Meter

• Kilo

• Odo

• Hydro

​meter - measure of

Multiple Choice

Which root is the same for all of these words?

Duel, Duplicate, Duet

• Du

• Duel

• Cate

• El

​Du / Duo - two

Multiple Choice

Which root is the same for all of these words?

Credit, Incredible, Creed

• Cred / Creed

• Dit

• Crad

• In

​cred / creed / credit - believe

Multiple Choice

Which root is the same for all of these words?

Revolution, Devolve, Revolve

• Vol / Volv

• Re

• Ve

• Rol

​volv / volut - roll, turn

​scrib / script - write

​ann / enn - year, yearly

​therm - heat

​you can use root words to guess new words

If you know photo means light and graph means drawing you could guess that "photograph" means a drawing made with light!​

​numbers

Uni comes from Latin​

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Prim-, Singul-​ also both mean 1 in Latin

​uni - one

Mono comes from Greek

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These numbers are used often, so they are good to know!​

​mono - one

​More numbers

2 - Duo-, Bi-

3 - Tri-,

4 - Quadr-, Quart-, Tetr-

5 - Pent-

6 - Hex-

7 - Septem-

8 - Octo-

9 - Novem-

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​10 - Dec-

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100 - Cent-

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1000 - Mill-​