Root

Original Meaning/

Usage Notes

English Derivatives

Vocabulary

cap(i)t- [cip(it)-] [from Latin]

(noun)

head

capital [literally, ‘headlike;’ the governmental seat or headquarters of a geopolitical entity; wealth, especially money or property used to produce more money and property.]

capitellum [literally, ‘little head;’ the knob at the lower end of the humerus that interlocks with the radius.]

captain [literally, ‘head person;’ the commander of a vessel, such as a starship, or of a formally organized group of persons.]

to decapitate

occipital

sinciput [literally, ‘half the head;’ the upper half of the cranium; the forehead.]

to decapitate (verb) [literally, ‘to take the head down from;’ to behead.]

occipital (adjective) [literally, ‘against the head;’ pertaining to the back part of the head or skull.]

cephal- [from Greek]

(noun)

head

acephalous [literally, ‘headless.’]

brachycephalic [literally, ‘short-headed;’ having a short, broad head.]

cephalopod

encephalitis [literally, ‘inflammation in the head;’ inflammation of the brain.]

encephalogram

hydrocephalic [literally, ‘water headed;’ congenital condition characterized by an abnormal accumulation of fluid in the cerebral ventricles that destroys much of the neural tissue.]

cephalopod (noun) [literally, ‘head foot;’ a mollusk of the class Cephalopoda, such as the octopus, characterized by a large head and prehensile tentacles,]

encephalogram (noun) [literally, ‘writing of the head;’ an x-ray image of the brain.]