A Guide To Word Roots

Most of you are probably building your vocabulary by pumping word lists with 5000-
10,000 words. No doubt a boring and tedious task. Moreover, are you sure that the guy
who prepared the word list you are slogging on has really picked cherries — really
selected the words that appear most frequently on CAT or are expected to appear in the
coming year.

He has?
Then tell me which word list has words like HELP, REASON, PAPER, BUSINESS,
SERVICE? They all figured on the five vocabulary questions in CAT on 15 February.
Students who relied on word lists alone would have missed the bus. I am not knocking
‘Word Lists’ — they do help trigger your preparation. But you cannot rely on them alone.
You need a way to handle a word even if you are seeing it for the first time in your life.
You can do that by familiarising yourself with ‘Word Roots’. Roots work really well with
the kind of contextual vocabulary that is tested in IIM CAT.

You’re probably scratching your head right now trying to figure out what we mean by
‘roots’. A root is a combination of letters appearing in a word whose origins can be found
in languages other than modern English. These combinations can appear in any part of
the word (though they are referred to as ‘prefixes’ if they appear at the beginning of the
word, and ‘suffixes’ if they appear at the end).

These letter combinations have particular meanings in their original languages, and as
such can provide clues to the meaning of English words in which they appear. While
English borrows roots from many different sources, the majority of those that appear in
CAT originally come from Latin and, sometimes, Greek. The words that appear in CAT
are taken from international English but there is a marked tilt towards British English.

If you’ve been studying a ‘romantic language’ i.e., Latin-derived language (such as

Spanish, Italian, or French), you may have already noticed that many of the words in
those languages have combinations of letters that seem similar to those in English words.
For example, take the word ‘dormitory’, meaning a place to sleep (not just a college
residence). It involves the Latin-derived root ‘dorm’, from the Latin verb ‘dormiere’,
which means ‘to sleep’ and the Greek suffix ‘-ory’, which means ‘place or location of’.

Other English words that come from these roots include ‘dormant’, meaning to be in a
sleep-like state, and ‘lavatory’, which literally translates to a place to wash or a bathroom
(‘lav’, to wash, is also a Latin root). The good thing about all of this is that if you
recognise a Greek or Latin based root in a word that you don’t really know you might be
able to figure out what the word means, or at least figure out what it’s talking about or
related to.

Take the word ‘benevolent’. It includes variations on the root ‘ben-’ (‘bon’ in French,
‘bueno’ in Spanish, ‘bene’ in Italian), which means ‘good’, and ‘vol/val’, which has to do
with feelings or emotions (think ‘valentine’). Put that together and you get something
along the lines of ‘good feelings’, which is pretty close to the actual definition of well
meaning or generous. (What do you think ‘malevolent’ might mean?)

Not all of the words (or all of the heavy vocabulary you might encounter in the CAT)
involve these kind of roots, and sometimes spelling or pronunciation changes that have
occurred over time result in words looking like they contain roots that they really don’t;
for instance, the prefix ‘a’, which means ‘not’ or ‘without’, works well for words like
‘atypical’ or ‘amoral’, but not for ‘apple’ (which does not mean without ‘pple’).
Nevertheless, useful roots crop up enough in CAT level vocabulary that it pays to be
familiar with them and the words they appear in. Who knows, they might appear on your
next sentence completion, antonym, contextual meaning or text essence question.

A Little Root Chain Discussion

Most of you know that a carnivore is something that eats meat; it involves the roots
‘carn’, which refers to meat or flesh, and ‘vor/vora-’, which means to eat or consume.
Forming a ‘root chain’ of related words, we can get ‘carnal’ (having to do with matters of
the flesh), ‘carnage’ (meaning slaughter or killing by the tearing of flesh), and ‘carnival’
(literally, a ‘feeling’ or celebration of the flesh).

Try making a root chain from ‘vor/vora-’; what can you come up with?

Roots carn (meat/flesh) vora (eat/consume)

Words using these roots carnal voracious
carnage herbivore
carnival omnivore
incarnate vortex
reincarnate
carnivore

Try doing a root chain for the following roots that have appeared on previous CATs:

‘co-’ or ‘com’ meaning with/together/thoroughly, as in ‘coherent’ or ‘cohesive’

The words using this root are given below. Try figuring the meanings out with the help of
roots. Also try to find out what role the root ‘co-’ or ‘com-’ plays here. Let me help you
with one:

Compatriot: Com (meaning with) + patriot (meaning a person who loves and zealously
supports his country). So compatriot should mean a guy who has the same patriotic
feelings as you or a fellow countryman
Combat: Com (meaning with) + bat (meaning fight). So combat would mean to fight with
someone, armed fight, etc.

Words using the root ‘co-’ or ‘com’ — Combat, Compatriot, Concede, Coequal, Coeval,
Coexist, Cohere, Cohort, Collaborate, Colleague, Collide, Commerce, Commit,
Community, Compact, Compassion, Compatible, Compel, Compete, Complex,
Composition, Compress, Concave, Confide, Congregate, Correspond, Conclave,
Concomitant, Concurrent, Congenital, Contrite, Conjoin, Concordant, Connotation,
Conviviality, Consanguinity, Conglomerate, Convocation, Complaisant, Complacent,
Commotion, Complacent

‘dic/dict’, meaning to say or tell, as in ‘dictatorial’

The words using this root are: Contradict, Dictate, Dictator, Dictionary, Dictum,
Addict/Addiction, Diction, Predict, Edict, Diction, Dictation, Indict

‘desc’, meaning downward, as in ‘condescending’ (to talk down to)

The words using this root are: Descend, Descent, Condescending, Descendent
(this does not apply to describe)

‘pen/peni’, meaning to punish, as in ‘penitent’

The words using this root are: Penitent, Penitentiary, Repent, Penology, Penalise, Penalty,
Penal, Penance

‘in/im’, meaning ‘not’, as in ‘impartial’ or ‘incontrovertible’

The words using this root are: Impervious, Immature, Incoherent, Impotent, Implacable
Can this root also work in the word ‘inflammable’?

Word Wide Web

Let’s try a little variation on the previous root chain approach. Below is an alphabetical
list of words. Your mission: starting with the word ‘lucid’ in the centre of a blank sheet of
paper, create a ‘word web’, using lines to join words that have roots in common. Once
you’ve made all the interconnections (and some of the words will have several), see if
you can define any words you don’t know the meanings of, based on the common roots.
You may also be guessing at what some of the roots actually mean. (We’ve got an index
of roots at the bottom, but try to figure out what they mean without consulting it first).

Starting point: lucid

Words to link:
antonym circumcise circumlocution circumspect
culprit excise exculpate export
genocide homogeneous homonym loquacious
monologue monotonous portable soliloquy
spectator translucent transportable

Hint: lucid-translucent-transportable

Attractive Opposites
You might have already read about various ways to remember the meanings of words you
don’t already know the definitions of - using flash cards, creating images, or using other
mnemonic (memory-aiding) devices such as puns or the good/bad method (if you can’t
recall a word’s meaning, at least be able to remember whether it’s got a positive or
negative meaning). You may have also discussed some of these with your teachers or
friends, or maybe even come up with a few of your own.

One technique that seems to work particularly well in memorising the meanings of
various roots is to pair one root with its opposite. There are many such opposite root
pairs, and if you remember them together, you’ll probably also remember a lot of the
words that use them.

Take a few moments to look at the opposite root pairs below and try to come up with
some of the words that contain them. (You’ll often be able to think of many more words
for one member of the pair than the other, but that’s okay.)

Size matters: grand vs. pet/pec

grandiose petite
grandiloquent
grandstand
magna vs. micro
magniloquent micron
magnanimous micrometer
magnum opus
True or false: veri/vera vs. pseudo
verity pseudopodia
veracity pseudonym
verification pseudocar
verisimilar
veritable
The over/under: arch vs. sub
archenemy subservient
archaic submarine
archangel suborbital
Subsidiary
subterranean

Now try these yourself:

Good and Bad: bon/bene vs. mal

Young and Old: nov/neo vs. vet
To Speak or Not To Speak: log/loqui vs. qui

Word Wide Web Redux

We liked it so much the first time; we figured we’d let you do it again . . .
Starting with the word ‘benevolent’ in the centre of a blank sheet of paper, create a ‘word
web’ from the following alphabetical list, joining with lines words that have roots in
common. Once you’ve made all the interconnections (and some of the words will have
several), see whether you can define any words you don’t know the meanings of, based
on the common roots.
Starting point: benevolent

Words to link:
ambiguous ambivalent beneficial benign
indifferent inevitable insuperable intrepid
reclamation revalue revitalise superficial
superfluous trepidation valentine vitality
vitamin

Alls Well That Ends Well — Suffixes

A ‘suffix’ is a combination of letters, comprising one or more full syllables, which forms
the end of a word to affect its meaning in some way. There are many Greek and Latin
based roots that are used as suffixes in English. For example, ‘-ology’, meaning study of,
‘-ory’, meaning place of, ‘-ium’, meaning building/structure in which an activity takes
place, and ‘-archy’, meaning rule by. Most suffixes either indicate an altered condition for
the word, or change its part of speech (typically, noun to adjective or vice versa).

Take a look at the following suffixes and see whether you can find some words that end
in them. What part of speech do these suffixes indicate?

-able/ible -ous -al/-ical -ful -less -ity -ion

-ance/ence -ism -ist -ify -ize -uce

Some suffixes can be tricky; they’ll often signal a certain part of speech, but are not
always what they seem. Look at the words with similar suffixes below; what part of
speech is each word?
‘rhetoric’ vs. ‘didactic’ or ‘cryptic’
‘luminary’ vs. ‘arbitrary’ or ‘dilatory’
‘perspective’ vs. ‘elusive’ or ‘effusive’
‘innate’ vs. ‘exculpate’ or ‘alleviate’

In the above cases, the first word represents the less common use of the suffix, but as you
can see, there are exceptions. Even ‘-ly’ that people think always signals an adverb,
sometimes shows up in words that are other parts of speech - think ‘wily’ (adjective) or
‘melancholy’ (noun or adjective). Does all this confusion makes you want to give up on
suffixes? It shouldn’t. Some are consistent signals of parts of speech, and even many for
which there are exceptions signal a certain part of speech much of the time. The context
in which the word is used will help you to determine what part of speech is involved if it
has an ambiguous suffix. Suffixes are just one tool you should use in your vocabulary
studies.

Just Say No — Prefixes That Mean No

Many of the shorter roots that come at the beginning of words indicate a condition (such
as ‘inter-’ meaning between; ‘sub-’, meaning under), time period (‘post-’, meaning after),
or quantity (‘dec-’, meaning ten); these are called prefixes. Some of the most commonly
appearing prefixes in English are those that negate the rest of the word or set up an
opposite to it. Below are listed some of the most common ‘negative’ prefixes. See how
many words you can find that use them.

a- ab- an/anti- contr- dis- il-

im- in- mis- non/not- ob- un-

Born In London, Speaks Chinese

Due to the influence of many different languages on the vocabulary of English (it
borrows from everywhere), there are very different-looking words that actually contain
roots with the same meanings. While this happens with languages that borrow roots from
an assortment of tongues, the most common occurrences involve (no surprise here) roots
from Greek and Latin.

Below are some roots with similar meanings that appear in many English words. On the
left is listed the Greek root and on the right, its Latin equivalent. See how many words
you can find that contain one or the other. Contrast the meanings of these words - is there
a difference (subtle or considerable) if a Greek versus a Latin root is present?

Meaning Greek root Latin root

time chron temp
love philo ami/amo
sound phon son
vision scop vis
self/alone solo auto
one/unit mono uni/uno
earth geo terr
water hyd/hydr aqu
fire/flame pyr/pyro flam/fier

And Now That We’ve Done All This . . .

Even after going through all this, we must warn you that while roots are invaluable tools
for helping to learn vocabulary, they can be tricky, and should not be relied on
exclusively. Sometimes, in the process of the evolution of language, spelling or
pronunciation changes have occurred over time, which result in words looking like they
contain roots that they really don’t. For instance, though the word ‘eradicate’ seems to
have the root ‘dic’, meaning talking or speaking, right in the middle, it really has nothing
to with talking or speaking. We’ve included a few more examples below of words that
look like they contain certain roots but don’t have meanings that reflect those roots. See
whether you can identify the root that seems to be contained in each of them and the
root’s meaning, as well as the meaning of the word itself (and how that doesn’t involve
the root). Perhaps you can come up with other such words as well!

contemptuous imperious
objectivity diligent
discourse transitory
Master Root Listing

a- negative prefix e/ex/ej- out, outward lu/luc/lum- light prox- near

ab- away en/em- into psuedo- false
from/negative epi- upon mag/magna- great pug- fighting
prefix equ/equi- equal mal- bad
ac/acr- sharp esce- becoming man/manu- hand quad- four
ad/at- to, toward eu- good, pleasant mar/mer- sea qui- quiet
amb- go/walk extr- outside, beyond, matr- mother quint- five
ambi- both/mixed additional met/meter measure
ami/amo- love meta more, beyond re- again
an/anti - against fac/fic/fig- do, make mic/micro- tiny
andr- human, male fer/ferr- strong, iron- mill- thousand schi- split
anim- life, spirit like mis- wrong, bad sci/scien knowledge
ante- before fid- faithful mit- send scop- see
anthr- human fort- strong mob/mobi- moving scrib/scrip- write
apt/ept skill, ability fract- break, split mor/mort- death sec/sequ- follow,
arbo- tree frat- brother morph- change come
arch- rule, over fren- highly energetic (shape) after
aud- sound gen- birth, creation, mut- change, alter sed/sid- sit, be still
auto- self kind, solo- alone
type nat/natu- natural, birthson/soni- sound
bell/belli- war geo- earth neg- negative soro- sister
ben/bono- good gno/kno- know neo/nov- new spec/spic- see, look
bi- two grand- big noct- night sta/sti- still, unmoving
bio/bios- life graph- write nom/nym- name sua- smooth
bra- arm grat- grateful non/not- negative sub- under
gress- step prefix super- beyond, greater
carn- meat, flesh gust- taste nounce- call than
cent- hundred gyn- female nox/nec- harmful syn/sym bring
chron- time together
circ/circu- around hemi- half, split part ob- against
cis/cise- cut her/hes- stick (on) olfac- smell tact- touch
cli- lean herb- plant ology- study of tech/techn- tools
clu/clo/cla close, shut hetero- different, omni- all, every tele- at a distance
co/com/con with, mixed ory- place of temp- time
together hex/sex- six ten/tend- hold
contr- against homo- same pac/pax/plac- peace, terr- earth, ground
cred- believe hyd/hydr- water pleasing tox- harmful,
culp- blame hyper- over, beyond pan all, everywhere poisonous
cur/cour- run (a hypo- under, par equal tract- pull
course) insufficient para- beyond trans- across
path- feeling, emotion trep- fear, anxiety
de- away il- not patr- father tri- three
from/opposite, of im- not, into pen/pend- weight
dec/deci- ten in- not, into pent- five un- not
dent- teeth inter- between peri- around uni/uno- one
derm- skin intra- within pet/pec- small us/ut- use
desc- down itis- inflammation, phil- love, high regard
dext- dexterity, ability infection phob- fear val/vale- value, feel
di- two, apart, split ium- place, building phon- sound vend- sell
dic/dict- say, tell of pod/ped- foot ver/vera/veri- true
dign/dain- worth jeu/ju- play, youthful pon/pos- place, put verd- green
digt- finger, digit jaun- yellow port- carry verge- boundary,
dis- apart from, not lab/labo- work post- after together
domi- rule over laud- praise poten- power, verse- turn
dorm- sleep lav- wash influence vete- experienced
duc/dul- lead lev- rise pre- before vi/vit/viv- alive
dys- faulty, bad log/loqui- to speak pro- for vid/vis- see
voc- call, talk
vor- eat, consum