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Using Greek and Latin Roots

This lesson shows how to combine Greek and Latin roots with prefixes and suffixes to find the meaning of unfamiliar words in real sentences, using a clear part-by-part strategy and practice examples.

Introduction

You already know that many English words are built from smaller pieces. In this lesson, you will put three kinds of pieces together, prefixes, roots, and suffixes, to work out what a tricky word means while you are reading. Instead of stopping to look up every new word, you will use the parts you already know to make a smart guess.

Three Parts, One Word

Most long words are made of a root plus one or more word parts stuck on the front or back. The root carries the main meaning. A prefix at the front and a suffix at the end change or add to that meaning.

Look at the word transportation. It has three parts:

trans- (prefix): across
port (root): to carry
-ation (suffix): the act of

Put together, transportation means "the act of carrying something across." That is exactly what a bus, train, or boat does.

Splitting a long word into a prefix, a root, and a suffix

Roots, Prefixes, and Suffixes to Know

Port (Latin root): to carry, as in transport or portable.

Struct (Latin root): to build, as in construct or structure.

Dict (Latin root): to say, as in predict or dictate.

Spect (Latin root): to look, as in inspect or spectator.

Bio (Greek root): life, as in biology or biography.

Trans- (prefix): across, as in transport or transplant.

Pre- (prefix): before, as in predict or preview.

Re- (prefix): again, as in reconstruct or rewrite.

-able (suffix): able to be, as in portable or visible.

-tion/-ation (suffix): the act of, as in construction or prediction.

A Strategy for Grade-Level Text

When you meet a hard word in a book, a science article, or a social studies passage, try these steps.

Spot the parts. Look for a prefix, a root, and a suffix you recognize inside the word.
Add up the meanings. Think about what each part means and how they fit together.
Test it in the sentence. Read the sentence again with your guessed meaning. Does the sentence still make sense?

Try this with a sentence you might find in a science text: "Scientists use special tools to reconstruct what dinosaurs looked like." Break the word apart: re- (again) + struct (build) = "to build again." That fits perfectly, scientists are building a picture of the dinosaur again using clues.

Try It: Break Apart a Word

Read this sentence: "The reporter had to predict which team would win before the game started." Find the prefix (pre-, meaning before) and the root (dict, meaning to say). Together they mean "to say before it happens." Check it against the sentence, it matches perfectly.

Now practice on your own. Pick a word from your current reading, such as inspection, invisible, or biography. Write down each part and its meaning, then put the meanings together to form a definition. Finally, check your definition against the sentence where you found the word.

Related lessons

Understanding Greek And Latin Roots