Use knowledge of Greek and Latin affixes (prefixes and suffixes) and roots as clues to determine the meaning of unfamiliar words, building a bank of common roots and their meanings
Many English words are built from small pieces that come from Greek and Latin. If you learn what a few of these pieces mean, you can guess the meaning of words you have never seen before.
Here is a small bank of roots to know. aqua means water, as in aquarium. dict means say or tell, as in dictionary. bio means life, as in biology. tele- means far, as in telephone. auto- means self, as in automatic. micro- means small, as in microscope. inter- means between, as in international. sub- means under, as in submarine.
Look at the word unbreakable. Split it into three pieces: un- (not) plus break (the root) plus -able (able to be). Put the meanings together and you get: not able to be broken.
When you meet a strange word, look for a small piece you already know. That piece is often the clue to the whole word's meaning.
Split an unfamiliar word into its pieces, use the meaning of each Greek or Latin root, and you can often figure out what the whole word means.
You have grown word families from a root. Some roots came to English from Greek and Latin long ago, and they still carry their old meanings. Trans- means across, and port means carry.
Put the two pieces together. What does transport mean?
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24 questions wait behind this lesson, each with its answer explained. Every answer feeds the sky: stars light as they are learned, and dim when it is time to come back.