Susan Ebbers 2005 1

English Words

from Latin and Greek,

Increase spelling, vocabulary, and reading comprehension

Adapted from Susan Ebbers

Susan Ebbers 2005 2

Developing content-specific, academic vocabulary depends on a basic understanding of Greek and Latin

Sixty percent of the words in English texts are of Latin and Greek origin Bear et al., 1996; Henry, 1997

phobos

http://www.phobialist.com/

phobos

Definition: unusual fearExamples:

claustrophobia: fear of closed places

acrophobia: fear of heights

arachnophobia: fear of spiders

myctophobia: fear of darkness

suriphobia- fear of mice

testophobia- fear of taking tests

Susan Ebbers 2005 5

Look Inside—Look Outside—Pull the Word Apartpneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis

1. Look inside the word for known word parts: prefixes, roots or combining forms, suffixes.

2. Use the analogy strategy—“I don’t know this word, but I know pneumonia and I know volcano, so by analogy, this word might have something to do with lungs and heat.”

3. Look outside the word at context clues, visuals

The coal miners, coughing and wheezing, suffered from pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis.

Susan Ebbers 2005 6

Romance

Romance Languages (e.g., Spanish, Portuguese, French, Italian, etc.) share the same Latin roots as English does, so don’t be afraid to use your other language skills.

Morta: Roman goddess of deathExample: The Latin root for the word death is mort.

The French spell it morte and the Spanish, muerte. In English, we have a whole network of related words: mortal, immortal, mortality, mortician, mortuary, postmortem, etc.

CFU:Can you think of some other English, Spanish and French words

that share the same root?

Susan Ebbers 2005 7

Latin: Some Common Roots

trans port able

dis rupt ion

pre script ion

re tract or

inter cept ion

pro ject ile

de struct ion

con duct or

dis miss al

sub vers ive

e dict

to carry

to break

to write

to pull

to take

to throw

to build

to lead

to send

to turn

to speak

Susan Ebbers 2005 8

Basic Terms

root form: inspector, thermal

base word: unlikely

prefix: re-, un-, dis-

suffix: -able, -ive, -ly

Derivation--a word formed from an existing word, root, or suffix/prefix: electric, electricity

Susan Ebbers 2005 9

Prefixes: Meaning and Connotation

Somewhat Positive

pro- co- bene-

super- com- be-

en-, em-

ad-

Often Negative

dis-, de-

non- sub-

in- un- mis-

mal-anti,

contraa-

Susan Ebbers 2005 10

Suffixes Are Like Units

• The letters work as a unit or team to add meaning.

• words ending with –tion are often nouns• words ending with –ive are often adjectives• words ending with –ish are often adjectives• words ending with –ity are often nouns

What about -ment, -ous, -ness?

philiaRocky actor

Sylvester Stallone at the Philadelphia

Museum of Art

Philadelphia -- city of brotherly love

Philia (“feel-ya”)

Definition: love, friendship

Examples: Philadelphia, philosopher, Philip, philharmonic,

philanthropist

Syn (or sym)

syn

Definition: with, together

Examples: synonyms: words that go together symphony: sounds that go together

synchronize: do things at the same time synagogue: to bring people together for

Jewish worship

thesis

Thesis (3 Ps)

Definition: put, place, position

Examples: thesis: position taken in a

persuasive argument parentheses: symbols grouping words placed inside a sentence synthesizer: instrument that puts

sounds together

Draw a word tree. Select a root. Grow words.

Write the root word on the bottom near the

roots of the tree.

Write words that contain your root on the branches of the

tree. Include definitions.

television: box to see distant things telethon: long fundraising event telephone: sound from far away

telekinesis: making things move from a distance

telescope: device for seeing distant objects

Susan Ebbers 2005 18

Check for Understanding Use one of the following roots to create your own

tree:

Anim--lifeFlex--bendAud--hearAstr--starCide--kill

Struct--buildDem--people

Susan Ebbers 2005 19

Counting in Greek and Latin

mono uni di

bi du, duo tri

tetra quadri penta

hexa sept oct

nove deca deci

cent milli poly

multi semi hemi

Susan Ebbers 2005 20

photographpolygraphmimeographphonographtelegraphparagraph

telegrammammogramhistogramanagramcryptogrammonogramelectrocardiogram

photographercartographergeographercryptographerautobiographerxylographerpaleographerbiographer

graphitegraphemegraphologistgraphicgraphically

grammar schoolgrammar booksrules of grammargrammaticalgrammaticallyungrammaticalungrammaticallygrammatology

graph

grammar

gram, graphto write, written

Greek

gram

Susan Ebbers 2005 21

Checks for Understanding

Create your own word. Don’t use a real word.

Make it up and make it fun based on your knowledge of roots, suffixes and prefixes