Useful roots for vocabulary building (repost)

Reposted from 8/9/2009:

One of the best things that ever happened to me in high school was Mr. Bini, the English teacher who gave we freshmen a list of Greek and Latin roots and forced us to memorize them.  Worse (to everyone else but me, it seemed) he made us use them, figure out what new words meant and other such 'tortures' in order to drum them into our heads. 

I've never had a better tool handed to me (except perhaps the multiplication tables, which I can at least still remember, unlike all the capitals of Europe or the location and misc info about all the 50 states.)

A quick search online can net you some pretty good word roots.  And, if you memorize them, you will have an incredibly powerful tool to help you increase your understanding of English and broaden your vocabulary. 

I find it particularly useful to know roots in order to build new vocabulary in my speculative fiction.  People may not understand the root consciously, but they generally do absorb a general sense of what a root can mean and get a sort of subliminal hint when the word I create is based on some appropriate Greek, Latin or other foreign word/root.

A few important roots to know:

• a/an: not, without
• a: on
• ab/s, a: from, away, off
• andr/o: male, man
• ante: before, in front
• anti: away, against
• co: with, together
• com: together
• de: reduce, away, down, remove
• di/s: apart, away, not
• dia: through, between, apart, across
• ex: from, out
• extra: out, about, beyond
• gyn: female, woman
• infra: beneath, below
• intra/intro: between, among
• ir: not
• ject: throw
• mis: bad, wrong, to hate
• non: no, not, without
• pan: all, any
• re: again, back, backwards
• self: of, for, or by itself
• serv: save, keep
• un: not, opposite of, lacking
• vers/vert: turn
• xen: foreign

There are many more of these, and it is a good idea (for your vocabulary's sake) to get familiar with the ones on the Espindle list.  It really is the best one I've found so far.

Random grammar and vocabulary stuff:
Did you know about the "phrasal verb"?  It's basically a compound verb, such as "down from," although there are other multi-word verb structures out there.  A good example of these is on EnglishClub.com here. 

EnglishClub.com also has a great page that lists and defines Latin phrases commonly used in English, which includes many of the abbreviations.  Also good stuff to have memorized. Some of my favs (which all of you should learn if you don't know them already):

e.g. (exempli gratia): for example
et al. (et alii, et alia): and others
etc. (et cetera): and the rest, and so forth
et seq. (et sequens, et sequentes, et sequentia): and the following
id. (idem): the same
i.e. (id est): that is

Links:
Espindle "Word Root Quick Reference" page.

(Please see the writing resources page in the top right sidebar, where other useful links are located.)

Comments

[Charles Gramlich]

These are really handy. We didn't get them in quite such a clear form, but somehow I did pick them up over time. Not sure exactly why or how. I know we were exposed to a lot of them in high school, and also in my college biology classes.

[bookfraud]

n.b. (nota bene):

when illia actum est (the die is cast), timeo Danaos et dona ferentes (beware of greeks bearing gifts), viz. (videlicet, that is to say) "ars longa, vita brevis" (art is long, life, short), &c. (et cetera and so on).

also, "casa es casae romanae" (the house is a roman house).

grazie for these.

[Bernita]

I picked up "viz." from Robinson Cruso/Carouso/Caruso/Crouso( oh, forgetit)!
We also had standard training in Latin prefixes/suffixes and roots in school.A lot of those are standard abbrevs. in academic stuff.

You make a very good point about their usefullness in spec. vocab.

[Robin]

Cool post! I never took Latin, but my older son did, and he happens to be a much better writer than my younger son, who didn't. Hmmmmm.... I speak Italian, and that helps a lot with roots/prefixes and suffixes. Surprisingly, medical words help me a lot also. At least they're good for something.