Tag Archives: word roots

Linguistically, I am at somewhat of a loss in trying to understand the Latin word root fus, which means “pour.” It’s a productive root in English, growing a number of high-frequency words such as confuse, as well as the less frequently used but arguably essential diffuse and transfuse (not to mention profuse). How these words relate or apply to the concept of pouring escapes me. Perhaps, kind reader, you can enlighten me and the other users of this blog.

Whatever the case, here is a worksheet on the Latin word root fus if you can use it.

If you find typos in this document, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

Here is a worksheet on the Greek root cycl-o. It means circle and wheel. So you won’t be surprise that this productive root yields  commonly used words in English such as bicycle, cycle, and cyclone, and for some reason, encyclopedia. Does anyone with linguistic skills know why encyclopedia ends up on this list? How do reference books stem from a root that means circle and wheel?

If you find typos in this document, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

Here is a worksheet on the Latin root flori. As you probably know, because you have probably visited a florist at least once in your life, this productive root in English (it gives us, in addition to florist, flora, efflorescence and its verb effloresce, as well as the relatively commonly used adjective florid) means flower.

If you find typos in this document, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

Here is a worksheet on the Greek word root crypt-o. It means, as you probably already know, “secret” and “hidden.” In fact, given the need for the encryption on the digital devices that are now ubiquitous and even omnipresent in the lives of most people, this is a word root very much in common parlance in English.

Here is a worksheet on the Latin word root fid. It means faith, but as it made its way into English words, it began to connote “truth” as well. You’ll find this root in such commonly used words as confide, fidelity, affidavit, and confidant.

In fact, when you see the United States Marine Corps motto Semper Fi, what you see is an abbreviation of semper fidelis, the Latin for “always faithful.”

If you find typos in this document, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

Here is a worksheet on the Greek word roots centr-o and centri. They mean, fairly obviously, center. Also obvious from the beginning is that this is a very productive root in English, showing up at the base of a number of high-frequency words in both the vernacular and scholarly language.

To name just three that show up in the high school curriculum, we have (on this worksheet) ethnocentric, eccentric, and anthropocentric.

If you find typos in this document, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

Here is a worksheet on the Latin word roots extra and extro. They mean outside and beyond. This two roots are at the base of a lot of high-frequency words in English, including two adjectives commonly used in your own school–extracurricular and extramural.

Or how about the strong expository verb extrapolate? Surely something we want students to be able to do. Then of course there is always the old standby, extraordinary, literally “beyond ordinary.” Enough said.

If you find typos in this document, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

Here is a worksheet on the Greek roots arc , archi, archeo, and archae/o. They mean rule, chief, first, and ancient. You can probably see archaeology (i.e. the study of ancient things) growing from the final of the four, but the others are a bit more obscure. There is an element of polysemy in these roots, which may make this worksheet, or at least finding the pattern of meaning in the words on it, a bit more difficult for students.

Still, when you think of words like archenemy, included in this document, archbishop, or archdiocese, suddenly chief and first come into sharper focus. Likewise monarch, archetype and hierarchy, also both present in this worksheet, reinforce those meanings. As far as rule is concerned, many of the political and social positions described by words growing from this root do indeed rule, as well as promulgate rules.

If you find typos in this document, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

Here is a worksheet on the Latin word root e-, a tiny morpheme that means, simply, out. If you’ve used other word root worksheets on this blog, you’ll quickly see that this is not among the strongest of them I’ve assembled. At the same time, words like egress, eject, and elude–not to mention educate (in the sense of “drawing out of”) to carry connotations, if not outright denotations, of out.

Still, this is a tough inferential nut to crack.

If you find typos in this document, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.