Latin Roots, Prefixes, and Suffixes

Latin was the language spoken by the ancient Romans. As the Romans conquered most of Europe, the Latin language spread throughout the region. Over time, the Latin spoken in different areas developed into separate languages, including Italian, French, Spanish, and Portuguese. These languages are considered “sisters,” as they all descended from Latin, their “mother” language.

Many Latin words came into English directly. Monks from Rome brought religious vocabulary as well as Christianity to England beginning in the 6th century. From the Middle Ages onward many scientific, scholarly, and legal terms were borrowed from Latin.

During the 17th and 18th centuries, dictionary writers and grammarians generally felt that English was an imperfect language whereas Latin was perfect. In order to improve the language, they deliberately made up a lot of English words from Latin words. For example, fraternity, from Latin fraternitas, was thought to be better than the native English word brotherhood.

The following table lists some common Latin roots.

Latin root	Basic meaning	Example words
-dict-	to say	contradict, dictate, diction, edict, predict
-duc-	to lead, bring, take	deduce, produce, reduce
-gress-	to walk	digress, progress, transgress
-ject-	to throw	eject, inject, interject, project, reject, subject
-pel-	to drive	compel, dispel, impel, repel
-pend-	to hang	append, depend, impend, pendant, pendulum
-port-	to carry	comport, deport, export, import, report, support
-scrib-, -script-	to write	describe, description, prescribe, prescription, subscribe, subscription, transcribe, transcription
-tract-	to pull, drag, draw	attract, contract, detract, extract, protract, retract, traction
-vert-	to turn	convert, divert, invert, revert

From the example words in the above table, it is easy to see how roots combine with prefixes to form new words. For example, the root -tract-, meaning “to pull,” can combine with a number of prefixes, including de- and re-. Detract means literally “to pull away” (de-, “away, off”) and retract means literally “to pull back” (re-, “again, back”).

In ordinary life, knowing Greek and Latin components of English enhances understanding and facilitates communication, but in the sciences, particularly in areas of medicine, it could be more serious.

Hypothetically, Why You Need to Know Your Affixes

• You've all heard the story about the fellow who went in for a routine exam only to land on the operating table. This could conceivably happen to a patient seeking a routine colonoscopy. Way back, when I was TAing Medical Terms, there were many students who wouldn't have selected the right tools -- or even the right orifice for the colonoscopy. There are many who would have gone straight for a woman's reproductive organs, searching for growths to cut away, mistaking not only the colon for the vagina, but an examination for a cutting procedure. The confusion went the other way as well, with students mistaking a colposcopy (examination of the cervix and vagina) for a colectomy (the removal of the large bowel).

• -Why Study Terminology

How knowing the etymology of rhinoceros will help you understand your doctor's diagnoses:

"Sometime during the 14th century someone decided to give this mammal its present day name. The characteristic of the animal that struck them the most was the large horn that grew from its nose. The Greek word for nose is rhis, and the combining form (the form that is used when it is combined with other word elements) is rhin-. The Greek word for horn is keras. So this animal was named a "nose-horn animal" or a 'rhinoceros.'"

...

"You take a peek in your file and discover that ... [the doctor] wrote 'acute rhinitis' as your diagnosis. Now having taken this course, you know that 'acute' just means sudden onset ... and you know that "-itis" simply means an inflammation."

Root + Suffix=Word

The suffix on please is an e. Does that surprise you? It did me. But if you look at the word pleas-ure, it makes sense, since removing its suffix leaves the same root as in pleas-e. As John Hough, in Scientific Terminology, points out, roots rarely exist alone. They usually precede suffixes. The same is true of Greek and Latin, even if, when borrowing, we sometimes drop the suffix. Thus, the word cell in English is really the Latin cella, from which we've dropped the a suffix.

Not only do almost all English words contain roots plus suffixes, but, according to Hough, suffixes can't stand alone. A suffix does not have meaning on its own, but needs to be connected to the root.

Suffix - Definition:

A suffix is an inseparable form that cannot be used alone but that carries an indication of quality, action, or relation. When added to a combining form, it makes a complete word and will determine whether the word is a noun, adjective, verb, or adverb....

Root + Suffix/Prefix=Word

Prefixes are usually adverbs or prepositions derived from Greek or Latin that can't be used alone in English and appear at the beginnings of words. Suffixes, which appear at the ends of words, aren't usually adverbs or prepositions, but they can't be used alone in English, either. While suffixes are often joined to the end of roots by separate connecting vowels, the transformation of these prepositional and adverbial prefixes is more direct, even though the final letter of the prefix may be changed or eliminated. In 2-letter prefixes, this can be confusing. Among other changes, n can become m or s and a final b or d may be changed to match the first letter of the root. Think of this confusion as designed to ease pronunciation.

This list won't help you figure out antipasto, but it will prevent you from describing the antonym of precedent as antident or polydent.

Note: Greek forms are capitalized, Latin in normal case.

Latin Prefix/ GREEK PREFIX	Meaning
A-, AN-	"alpha privative", a negative
ab-	away from
ad-	to, towards, near
ambi-	both
ANA-	up, back again, throughout, against
ante-	before, in front of
ANTI-	against
APO-	away from
bi-/bis-	twice, double
CATA-	down, across, under
circum-	around
con-	with
contra-	against
de-	down, from, away from
DI-	two, twice, double
DIA-	through
dis-	apart, removed
DYS-	hard, difficult, bad
e-, ex- (Lat.) EC- EX- (GK.)	out of
ECTO-	outside
EXO-	outside, outward
EN-	in
endo-	within
epi-	on, upon
extra-	outside, beyond, in addition to
EU-	well, good, easy
HEMI-	half
HYPER-	over, above,
HYPO-	below, under
in-	in, into, on You often see this prefix as im. Used with verbal roots.
in-	not; occasionally, beyond belief
infra-	below
inter-	between
intro-	within
intus-	within
META-	with, after, beyond
non-	not
OPISTHO-	behind
PALIN-	again
PARA-	along side of, beside
per-	through, thorough, complete
PERI-	around, near
post-	after, behind
pre-	in front of, before
PRO-	before, in front of
PROSO-	onwards, in front
re-	back, again
retro-	backward
semi-	half
sub-	under, below
super-, supra-	above, upper
SYN-	with
trans-	across
ultra-	beyond

Adjective + Root + Suffix=Word

The following tables contain Greek and Latin adjectives in the form used to combine with English words or with other Latin or Greek parts to make English words -- like megalomaniac or macroeconomics, to take examples from the top of the table.

GREEK & Latin	Meaning in English
MEGA-, MEGALO-, MAKRO-; magni-, grandi-	big
MICRO-; parvi-	little
MACRO-, DOLICHO; longi-	long
BRACHY-; brevi-	short
EURY, PLATY-; lati-	wide
STENO-; angusti-	narrow
CYCLO-, GYRO; circuli-	round
quadrati- rectanguli-	square
PACHY-, PYCNO-, STEATO-; crassi-	thick
LEPTO-; tenui-	thin
BARY-; gravi-	heavy
SCLERO-, SCIRRHO-; duri-	hard
MALACO-; molli-	soft
HYGRO-, HYDRO-; humidi-	wet
XERO-; sicci-	dry (Xerox®)
OXY-; acri-	sharp
CRYO- PSYCHRO-; frigidi-	cold
THERMO-; calidi-	hot
DEXIO-; dextri-	right
SCAIO-; scaevo- levi, sinistri-	left
PROSO-, PROTO-; frontali-	front
MESO-; medio-	middle
POLY-; MULTI-	many
OLIGO-; pauci-	few
STHENO-; validi-, potenti-	strong
HYPO-; imi-, intimi-	bottom
PALEO-, ARCHEO-; veteri-, seni-	old
NEO-, CENO-; novi	new
CRYPTO-, CALYPTO-; operti-	hidden
TAUTO-; identi-	same
HOMO-, HOMEO-; simili-	alike
EU-, KALO-, KALLO-; boni-	good
DYS-, CACO-; mali-	bad
CENO-, COELO-; vacuo-	empty
HOLO-; toti-	entirely
IDIO-; proprio-, sui-	one's own
ALLO-; alieni-	another's
GLYCO-; dulci-	sweet
PICRO-; amari-	bitter
ISO-; equi-	equal
HETERO-, ALLO-; vario-	different

Colors

A medical example of a Greek-based color word is erythrokinetics (e·ryth·ro·ki·net·ics), which Your Dictionary Medical Definitions defines as "A study of the kinetics of red blood cells from their generation to destruction."

GREEK & Latin	Meaning in English
COCCINO-, ERYTHTO-, RHODO-, EO-; purpureo-, rubri-, rufi-, rutuli-, rossi-, roseo-, flammeo-	Reds of various shades
CHRYSO-, CIRRHO-; aureo-, flavo-, fulvi-	orange
XANTHO-, OCHREO-; fusci-, luteo-	yellow
CHLORO-; prasini-, viridi-	green
CYANO-, IODO-; ceruleo-, violaceo-	blue
PORPHYRO-; puniceo-, purpureo-	violet
LEUKO-; albo-, argenti-	white
POLIO-, GLAUCO-, AMAURO-; cani-, cinereo-, atri-	gray
MELANO-; nigri-	black

Numerals

Here are more combining forms that are important to know since they are numbers. If you've ever had trouble remembering whether millimeter or kilometer was closer to an inch, pay attention here. Note that the milli- is Latin and the kilo- is Greek; the Latin is the smaller unit, and the Greek the larger, so millimeter is a 1000th part of a meter (.0363 of an inch) and the kilometer is 1000 meters (39370 inches).

Some of these numerals are derived from adverbs, most from adjectives.

GREEK & Latin	Meaning in English
SEMI-; hemi-	1/2
HEN- ; uni-	1
sesqui-	1-1/2
DYO (DI-, DIS-) ; duo- (bi-, bis-)	2
TRI-; tri-	3
TETRA-, TESSARO- ;quadri-	4
PENTA-;quinque	5
HEX, HEXA-;sex-	6
HEPTA-;septem-	7
OCTO-;octo-	8
ENNEA-;novem-	9
DECA-;decem-	10
DODECA-; duodecim	12
HECATONTA-;centi-	100
CHILIO-;milli-	1000
MYRI-, MYRIAD-;	any large or countless number