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.]