Root

Original Meaning/

Usage Notes

English Derivatives

Vocabulary

nom(y)- [from Greek]

(noun)

law

astronomy [literally, ‘star law;’ the science that studies the nature and motions of heavenly bodies.]

autonomy [literally, ‘law to oneself;’ self-determination; self-regulation; independence.]

economics

ergonomic [literally, ‘pertaining to work law;’ designed to meet the special requirements of a work station or workplace.]

gastronomic [literally, ‘pertaining to the law of the stomach;’ pertaining to fine dining.]

taxonomy

economics (noun) [literally, ‘household law skill;’ the social science that studies the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services.]

taxonomy (noun) [literally, ‘law of ordering;’ classification of beings or phenomena into an ordered system.]

Root

Original Meaning/

Usage Notes

English Derivatives

Vocabulary

pon-/pos- [from Latin]

(verb)

to put

apposition

to compose [literally, ‘to put together;’ to combine parts into a whole.]

to oppose [literally, ‘to put against;’ to fight or argue against someone or something.]

to posit

to postpone [literally, ‘to put after;’ to put off to a later time; to delay.]

preposition (noun) [literally, ‘putting before;’ a word that establishes a relationship between a word in a basic clause and another word or words (the object of the preposition): the preposition and its object are called a prepositional phrase.]

apposition (noun) [literally, ‘putting toward or near;’ a phrase that explains an adjoining noun.]

to posit [literally, ‘to put (down);’ to assume or postulate an assertion.]

Root

Original Meaning/

Usage Notes

English Derivatives

Vocabulary

-ity/-ety/-ty [from Latin]

(suffix)

-ness/-ship

audacity [literally, ‘daringness;’ boldness.]

community [literally, ‘commonness;’ a group of humans living in the same territory or having common interests.]

falsity [literally, ‘falseness.’]

gravity

sanity [literally, ‘soundness;’ soundness of mind.]

society

gravity (noun) [literally, ‘heaviness;’ seriousness; the natural force of attraction between two large heavenly bodies.]

society (noun) [literally, ‘comradeship;’ the group of humans joined by a distinct, common culture or regime.]

Root

Original Meaning/

Usage Notes

English Derivatives

Vocabulary

spir- [from Latin]

(verb/noun)

to breathe/

breath, spirit

[Note; In combination, after the letter ‘x,’ the ‘s’ in ‘spir-‘drops out, leaving ‘-xpir-.’]

to conspire

expiration

inspiration [literally, ‘breathing into;’ drawing in air; stimulating the mind or imagination, sometimes by divine prompting.]

perspiration [literally, ‘breathing through;’ excretion of saline bodily fluid through the pores.]

respiration [literally, ‘breathing again;’ breathing in and out.]

spirit [literally, ‘breath or spirit;’ incorporeal force or being.]

to conspire (verb) [literally, ‘to breathe together;’ to engage in a clandestine plot involving illegal activity.]

expiration (noun) [literally, ‘breathing out;’ coming to the end of a prescribed term; exhaling; dying.]

Root

Original Meaning/

Usage Notes

English Derivatives

Vocabulary

orth- [from Greek]

(adjective)

correct, right

orthodontia [literally, ‘tooth correctness;’ the specialty in dental medicine that corrects tooth irregularities, e.g., by braces.]

orthodox

orthogonal [literally, ‘pertaining to right angles;’ pertaining to, or composed of, right angles.]

orthography

orthopedics [literally, ‘correct child-educating skill;’ the medical specialty that deals with disorders of the skeletal system and associated musculature.]

orthostatic [literally, ‘pertaining to standing upright.’]

orthodox (adjective) [literally, ‘correct opinion;’ pertaining to, or practicing, traditionally accepted beliefs and practices, especially of a religion.]

orthography (noun) [literally, ‘correct writing;’ the branch of grammar that studies the rules of correct spelling.]