Common Greek and Latin Roots

Greek and Latin Roots

Greek and Latin Roots

The English language was built on borrowing from other languages. More than 60% of English words have Greek or Latin roots. This week, we will be looking at Greek and Latin roots and words that use them.

Bio

Our first root word is bio. Like when we see the word biology. Bio is a Greek word and it means life.

Multiple Choice

What do you think biohazard means?

• Hazard to biomes

• Dangerous to life

• Life happens

Graph

Our next root word is graph. Graph is also a Greek word and it means to write. Think of paragraph. Para is another Greek prefix that means beside. So, it’s writing that is beside each other.

Open Ended

What is a biography?

Geo

Our next root word is geo. Geo means Earth. Like geology. Ology by the way is the study of. Geology is the study of Earth.

Open Ended

What does geography mean?

Phon

Our last root word for the week is phon. Phone is also Greek and it means sound. Think of homophone. It means having the same sound!

Open Ended

What does telephone mean? (Tele means far)

Open Ended

Can you think of a word that has one of these root words? What do you think the word means?

Multiple Choice

What do you think biohazard means?

• Hazard to biomes

• Dangerous to life

• Life happens