1 Latin/Greek Lists Roots List 1 English animal big/large far away light measure small sound study of time to see to write under water wheel/circle Latin/Greek zoon megas tele photos meter/metron micro/mikros phone logos chronos video/vision gram/graph sub aqua cycle Roots List 2 English book earth heat life one people see/look Latin/Greek biblio geo thermos bios unus demos scope/skopeo
2 self star ten three thousand two water autos astro dec/decem tri/tres mille bi hydros Roots List 3 English across across/through before beside between fear feeling/disease hand love moon put/place send with/together write Latin/Greek trans dia pro para inter phobia/phobos pathos/pathy manus phile/philia luna thesis mit sym/syn scribo/scriptum
3 Latin Prefixes Prefix Meaning Prefix Meaning a, ab away, from avoid, abduct, abnormal bi two bicycle, bipartisan per thorough perennial, permeate post after postwar, post test con (col, com, cor) together, with conspire, compose, correspond pre before preview, premonition contra against contradict, contraband pro forward progressive,proc eed de from, down deduce, demote re again, back retrieve, revive, respond dis apart, away disrupt, dismiss, disgust retro backward retrogress, retroactive e, ex out exit, expel se apart secede, secluded extra beyond extraordinary, extravagant in (il, im, ir) not insecure, illegal, immoral, irregular in (il, im, ir) in, into, on inject, illuminate, import, irrigate semi half semicircle, semisweet sub, sup under subway, submerge, support super above supernatural superficial inter between interrupt, intervene, interstate trans across, through transcontinental transmit intra within intravenous, intramural ultra beyond ultraconservative ultrasonic ob, op against obstacle, opposite, oppressive
4 Latin Suffixes Nouns Noun Suffix ance ancy ence ion ity ive ment ness ure abundance, appearance, endurance infancy, occupancy, vacancy independence, inference confusion, expression, vacation creativity, acidity, brevity relative, missive commitment, requirement kindness, thankfulness departure, pleasure Verbs Verb Suffix ly ize simplify, testify, verify categorize, criticize, plagiarize Adverbs Adverb Suffix ly ward carefully, reluctantly, slowly forward, homeward Adjectives Adjective Suffix able ful ible ical ious ive comfortable, lovable doubtful, regretful legible, reversible, comical, musical conscious, prestigious exhaustive, repetitive y rainy, thrifty
5 Most Frequent Affixes in Printed School English Rank Prefix % of all Prefixed Suffix % of all Suffixed Words Words 1 un 26 s, es 31 2 re 14 ed 20 3 in, im, il, ir (not) 11 ing 14 4 dis 7 ly 7 5 en, em 4 er, or (agent) 4 6 non 4 ion, tion, ation, ition 4 7 in, im, (in) 3 able, ible 2 8 over 3 al, ial 1 9 mis 3 y 1 10 sub 3 ness 1 11 pre 3 ity, ty 1 12 inter 3 ment 1 13 fore 3 ic 1 14 de 2 ous, eous, ious 1 15 trans 2 en 1 16 super 1 er (comparative) 1 17 semi 1 ive, ative, tive 1 18 anti 1 ful 1 19 mid 1 less 1 20 under (too little) 1 est 1 All others make up on 3% of prefixed words and 7% of suffixed words A SUFFIX changes the part of speech of the word: read, read er, read ing, read able, readab ility A PREFIX changes the meaning of the word: read, pre read, re read, mis read, pseudo read
6 Anglo Saxon Prefixes Prefix Meaning a on, in, in a state of aboard, adrift, aloof, amiss with against, back withdraw, withhold, withstand be all around, thoroughly affect with, cover with cause to be besiege, begrudge, belabor bewitch, belie belittle bewilder fore beforehand, front forecast, foresight, foreshadow mis bad, badly, wrongly misdeed, misfire, misgiving, mislead out beyond, out, more than outgrow, outlandish, outspoken, outwit over too, beyond, over overbearing, overdose, overestimate un un, lack of, opposite of unabridged, unbiased, unscramble under beneath, lower underdeveloped, underprivileged up up, upward upcoming, update, upheaval, upright with against, back, away withdraw, withhold, withstand