Root

Original Meaning/

Usage Notes

English Derivatives

Vocabulary

cred- [from Latin]

(verb)

to believe(-in)

credential [literally, ‘(evidence) pertaining to believing;’ anything that certifies that one’s declared claim or position is to be believed.]

credible

creditable [literally, ‘able to be believed;’ deserving of belief.]

credo [literally, ‘I believe;’ an official statement of religious belief; a creed.]

credulous

to discredit [literally, ‘to believe apart;’ to destroy belief in, or refuse belief to, someone or something.]

credible (adjective) [literally, ‘believable;’ conveying worthiness or likeliness to be believed.]

credulous (adjective) [literally, ‘believing;’ too prone or ready to believe; gullible.]

Root

Original Meaning/

Usage Notes

English Derivatives

Vocabulary

con-/com-/co- [from Latin]

(preposition)

with

[Note: As a prefix, this also means ‘together.’]

colloquial

concrescence [literally, ‘growing together;’ the conjoint growing of different parts of a biological organism.]

congregation [literally, ‘a flocking together;’ a group of persons assembled for a specific purpose, especially for religious worship.]

consensus

convention [literally, ‘a coming together;’ a formal meeting of an organization; an agreed upon usage or belief.]

to convert [literally, ‘to turn together with;’ to change something into something else; to convince someone to adopt a particular belief, especially a religion.]

colloquial (adjective) [literally, ‘pertaining to speaking together with (someone else);’ characteristic of spoken language or informal writing that is meant to imitate ordinary conversation.]

consensus (noun) [literally, ‘a sensing together;’ an agreement reached by a group either unanimously (consensus omnium) or by a majority (consensus gentium).]

syn-/sym-/syl-/sy-/sys- [from Greek]

(preposition)

with

[Note: As a prefix, this also means ‘together.’]

sympathy [literally, ‘suffering together with;’ sharing the feelings of someone else; compassion.]

symphony [literally, ‘sound together;’ a long musical composition in three or more movements for a large orchestra.]

synergy [literally, ‘working together with;’ the interaction of two or more actors or forces so that their combined effect is bigger than the sum of their individual effects; cooperative interaction between groups.]

synonym [literally, ‘name together with;’ a word with the same, or almost the same, meaning as another word in the same language.]

syntax

synthesis

syntax (noun) [literally, ‘ordering together;’ the rules governing the combining of words into grammatically correct clauses and sentences; the rules of linguistic coordination.]

synthesis (noun) [literally, ‘a putting together;’ the combining of disparate elements or phenomena into an organized and integrated whole; compositing.] 

Root

Original Meaning/

Usage Notes 

English Derivatives

Vocabulary

arch- [from Greek]

(noun)

rule, beginning

anarchy [literally, ‘without a rule or a ruler.’]

archaeology

archangel [literally, ‘ruling messenger;’ a high-ranking angel.]

archbishop [literally, ‘ruling overseer;’ a bishop of the highest rank, such as the head of an archdiocese or province.]

architect

oligarchy [literally, ‘rule by a few (usually the wealthy).’]

archaeology (noun) [literally, ‘speech about the beginning;’ the systematic study of material artifacts from the past.]

architect (noun) [literally, ‘ruling builder;’ one who plans and supervises the construction of buildings.]

Root

Original Meaning/

Usage Notes

English Derivatives

Vocabulary

ven-/vent- [venu-] [from Latin]

(verb)

to come

adventure [literally, ‘a coming toward;’ a hazardous or exciting undertaking.]

to circumvent [literally, ‘to come around;’ to go around or to bypass something (for the purpose of avoiding or evading it).]

convention [literally, ‘a coming together;’ a formal meeting of an organization; an agreed upon usage or belief.]

event

to intervene [literally, ‘to come between;’ to come between two parties in order to hinder or alter their course of action.]

to invent

event (noun) [literally, ‘a coming out;’ a happening, sometimes one of significance; a final result or outcome.]

to invent (verb) [literally, ‘to come onto;’ to produce or devise something new.]

Root

Original Meaning/

Usage Notes 

English Derivatives

Vocabulary

   end(o)-/ent(o)-

     [from Greek]

(preposition)

            within

endocardium

endocrine

endemic [literally, within a people;’ prevalent in, or peculiar to, a particular locale or people.]

endodontics [literally, ‘skill at what is within the tooth;’ the branch of dentistry which treats diseases of the tooth’s root and dental pulp.]

endomorph [literally, ‘shape within;’ a human body type characterized by fleshiness and the prominence of the abdomen.]

entozoan [literally, ‘within a living thing;’ an animal that lives within another animal, usually as a parasite.]

endocardium (noun) [literally, ‘location within the heart;’ the thin membrane that lines the interior of the heart.]

endocrine (adjective) [literally, ‘judging or discriminating within;’ secreting internally; pertaining to the endocrine glands or their hormones.]