Latin and Greek Roots

Latin and Greek Roots…

Latin and Greek roots are everywhere in the English language. You shouldn’t overlook them when it comes to exam preparation or vocabulary development.

They really can go a long way towards improving your score.

Many English words contain Latin and Greek roots from which they are derived.

The following list will help you recognize English words that are unknown to you. This should help you on all sections of the Michigan Proficiency Exams.


     ROOT         MEANING          EXAMPLES

pac	peace	pacify, pacific, pacifist
pass	to feel	dispassionate,
pater, part	father	patriotsm, patriarch, paternity
path	disease, feeling	pathology, apathetic, antipathy
ped, pod	foot	impediment, tripod,
ped	child	pedagogue, pediatrician
pel,pulse	to drive	compulsion, repel,expel
pet, petit	to seek	petition, appetite, compete
phil	love	philanthropist, philanderer
pon, posit	to place	postpone, positive
port, portat	to carry	portable, transport
poten	able, powerful	omnipotent
psych	mind	psychology
put, putat	to trim, to calculate	computation, amputate
quer, ques, quir, quis	to ask	inquiry, inquisitive,
reg, rect	to rule	regent, insurrection
rid, ris	to laugh	derision, ridiculous
rog, rogat	to ask	interrogate
rupt	to break	interrupt, rupture
sacr	holy	sacrilegious, sacrament
sci	to know	omniscient, conscious
scop	to watch, to see	periscope, microscope
scrib, script	to write	transcribe, script
sect	cut	dissect, bisect
sed, sess	to sit	sedentary
sent, sens	to think, to feel	resent, sensitive
sequi, secut, seque	to follow	consecutive, sequence, sequel
solv, solut	to loosen	absolve, dissolute
somn	sleep	insomnia
soph	wisdom	philosophy, sophomoric
spec, spect, spic	to look at	spectator, circumspect, despicable
spir	to breathe	respiratory, spirited
string, strict	bind	stringent, stricture
stru, struct	to build	constructive,construe
tang, tact, ting	to touch	tangent, contact, contingent
tempor	time	contemporary
ten, tent	to hold	tenable, retentive
term	end	interminable, terminate
terr	land	terrestrial, subterranean
therm	heat	thermostat
tors,tort	to twist	distort, torsion
tract	to drag, to pull	distract, intractable
trud, trus	to push, to shove	intrude, protrusion
urb	city	urban
vac	empty	vacuous, evacuate
vad, vas	to go	invade, evasive
veni, vent, ven	to come	intervene, prevent, convention
ver	true	veracious, veracity
verb	word	verbose
vers, vert	to turn	vertigo, revert, diversion
via	way	deviation, viaduct
vid, vis	to see	vision, evidence
vinc, vict, vanq	to conquer	invincible, victory, vanquish
viv, vit	alive	vivacious, vitality
voc, vocat	to call	avocation, provocation
vol	wish	malevolent, voluntary
volv, volut	to roll	revolve, convolution

To go to the first page containing latin and greek roots click on the preceding link. They are many more Latin and Greek roots than those found on this page. You will find lists of Latin and Greek roots arranged in alphabetical order.