What are Greek and Latin roots?

“Puzzle pieces” of longer words that we use in the English language; they combine to make full words.

They came from the Greeks, and then from the Romans, who adopted a lot of the Greek language. They have “morphed” over time into some of our English words.

When you combine them, they create two things:…a correctly spelled word in the English language.

…a word that has meaning built into it …you don’t need a dictionary to guess at its meaning if you know the roots!

Body Parts!&

Suffixes

The Head:

cep / ceph = head

cereb = brain

psych = mind consc = thinking / awareness vis = eye/vision

vid = eye/vision

audio = ears/hearing

Heart and Lungs:

cardio = heart

circ = around

vasc = vessel / tube

pneumono = lungs

aero = air/breathing

respir = air/breathing

Hands, Skin, and Feet:

man / mani = hand

derm = skin thermo = heat hyper = above, too much hypo = under, too little

pod / ped = foot / feet

 

Word Endings (Suffixes):

-ology = the study of… (noun;

thing)

-ist = a person who… (noun;

person)

- ac / -ic / -ical = related to…

(adjective)

-al / -ual = related to… (adjective)

-ar = related to… (adjective)

-ation = the action of… (verb)

-itis = sickness (noun; thing)

-osis = condition; sickness (noun;

thing)

-ia = condition; sickness (noun;

thing)

PRACTICES:

PRACTICE #1: Combining roots into correctly spelled words.

PRACTICE #2: Making inferences about the meanings of words, based on their roots’ definitions. (Do NOT use a dictionary for this. )

You must correctly complete Practice #1 before you can get Practice #2.

If you complete both Practices completely and correctly, you will get a ticket!

If you finish both Practices and have received a ticket, you can begin to create a Study Guide, either on Quizlet, on Notecards, or by drawing a crazy creature!