Root

Original Meaning/

Usage Notes

English Derivatives

Vocabulary

cern-/cret- [from Latin]

(verb)

to sift

to ascertain [literally, ‘to sift near;’ to determine with certainty.]

to discern

discrete

to excrete [literally, ‘to sift out;’ to separate and expel from a bodily organ.]

secret [literally, ‘sifted apart;’ kept hidden or concealed.]

to secrete [literally, ‘to sift by itself;’ to produce and separate something from a bodily organ.]

to discern (verb) [literally, ‘to sift apart;’ to perceive something in its distinctness.]

discrete (adjective) [literally, ‘sifted apart;’ separate.]

Root

Original Meaning/

Usage Notes

English Derivatives

Vocabulary

can(t)- [cen(t)-]/chant- [from Latin]

(verb)

to sing

accent [literally, ‘sung toward or near;’ emphasis or stress on a particular verbal unit.]

canticle [literally, ‘little song;’ a chant, especially a religious one, e. g., a hymn.]

cantor [literally, ‘singer;’ in Judaism, the religious official who leads the congregation in song.]

chanticleer

incantation [literally, ‘a singing unto;’ formal recitation of a spell or ritual formula.]

to recant

chanticleer (noun) [literally, ‘clear singer;’ a rooster.]

to recant (verb) [literally, ‘to sing back;’ to take back formally statements formerly spoken, especially in an official inquiry or courtroom.]

Root

Original Meaning/

Usage Notes

English Derivatives

Vocabulary

-oid [from Greek]

(suffix)

looking like

adenoid [literally, ‘looking like a gland;’ a lymphoid growth at the back of the nose that may obstruct normal breathing when swollen.]

android

anthropoid [literally, ‘looking like a human;’ human in shape or structure; apelike.]

asteroid [literally, ‘looking like a star;’ a small mass that revolves around the sun.]

deltoid [literally, ‘looking like the letter delta;’ the triangular muscle covering the shoulder joint.]

spheroid

android (noun) [literally, ‘looking like a man;’ an artificial human.]

spheroid (noun) [literally, ‘looking like a sphere;’ a mass that is shaped like a sphere without being perfectly round.]

Root

Original Meaning/

Usage Notes

English Derivatives

Vocabulary

cid- (caed-)/cis- [from Latin]

(verb)

to cut[-down]

concise

to decide [literally, ‘to cut from;’ to make up one’s mind; to determine.]

fratricide [literally, ‘cutting down a brother;’ killing one’s brother.]

homicide

incisive [literally, ‘cutting into;’ clear, sharp, and forceful.]

precise [literally, ‘cut before;’ exact and clearly defined.]

concise (adjective) [literally, ‘cut together;’ expressing much with few words.]

homicide (noun) [literally, ‘cutting down a human;’ killing a person; murder.]

Root

Original Meaning/

Usage Notes

English Derivatives

Vocabulary

-(i)tude [from Latin]

(suffix)

-ness

latitude [literally, ‘wideness;’ relaxation of constraints; measured distance north or south from the equator.]

longitude [literally, ‘longness;’ measured distance east or west from the prime meridian in Greenwich, England.]

magnitude [literally, ‘bigness;’ extent of rank or size.]

multitude

pulchritude [literally, ‘prettiness;’ physical attractiveness.]

vicissitude

multitude (noun) [literally, ‘muchness;’ a large number of persons or things.]

vicissitude (noun) [literally, ‘alternateness;’ the multitude of changes experienced in the course of a lifetime.]