Latin and Greek Roots of English Vocabulary: An Online Manual: Lesson 38 [spir-]
August 8, 2010
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Root
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Original Meaning/ Usage Notes |
English Derivatives
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Vocabulary
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| (base)
spir- [from Latin]
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(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.] |
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