A root word is the most basic form of a word that is able to convey a particular description, though or meaning. It does not have a prefix or a suffix (at the end of a word). Example: act, all, alter etc.
Root Words with Meanings and Examples
ambi, amphi
Meaning: both, on both sides, around
Examples: ambidextrous – able to use both hands equally; ambidexterity, ambiguous – having more than one meaning; ambivalence – conflicting or opposite feelings toward a person or thing, ambivalent, ambient, amboceptor, amputation, ancipital.
ami, amic, imic
Meaning: Friend
Examples: Amicable, Inimical, amiable – friendly, pleasant, lovable; amity – friendly and peaceful relations; amorous – showing romantic love.
bell, belli
Meaning: war
Examples: antebellum – belonging to a period before a war, especially the American Civil War, bellicose – warlike; belligerent – hostile, ready to fight; rebel – person who opposes and fights, rebellion – refusal to accept some authority, code or convention.
bene
Meaning: good, well
Examples: benefactor – person who gives money to a cause; beneficial – producing a good effect; benevolent – showing kindness or goodwill
calc
Meaning: stone
Examples: calcite; calcium- the flame of acetylene gas generated by reaction of calcium carbide with water; calcification- impregnation with calcareous matter
carn
Meaning: flesh, meat
Examples: carnivorous – flesh-eating; carnal – pertaining to the body or flesh; incarnate – given bodily form.
cata
Meaning: down, against completely, intensive
Examples: cataclysm – a flood or other disaster, catalog – a complete –ing; catastrophe – turning for the worst, a substantial disaster.
cede, ceed, cess
Meaning: go, yield
Examples: exceed – to go beyond the limits; recede – to go back; accessible – easily entered, approached, or obtained.
chrono
Meaning: time
Examples: chronic – lasting for a long time; chronological – arranging events in time order, synchronize – happening at the same time.
demos
Meaning: people
Examples: democracy – government of the people; demographic – the study of people; epidemic – spreading among people in a region.
derma
Meaning: skin
Examples: dermatologist – a doctor for the skin; pachyderm – a class of animals with very thick skin (elephant, rhinoceros); dermatitis – inflammation of the skin. ego
Meaning: self
Examples: egoistic – self-centered; alter ego – a higher aspect of oneself; egomania – excessive preoccupation with oneself.
endo
Meaning: within, inside
Examples: endotherm – a creature that can keep its inside temperature fairly constant; endocrine – relating to glands that secrete directly into the blood or lymph; endogamy – the custom to marry within one’s clan, tribe etc.
erg
Meaning: work
Examples: ergonomics – study of the working environment; energy – the power to accomplish work; energetics – science that looks at energy and its transformation. aesth
Meaning: feeling, sensation, beauty
Examples: esthetician – someone who beautifies; aesthetic – pertaining to a sense of beauty; kinesthesia – the sensation of bodily movement.
fac
Meaning: make, do
Examples: artifact – an object made by a person; factory – a place where things are made; malefact – a person who does wrong.
fid
Meaning: faith
Examples: confide – place trust in someone, fidelity – faithfulness; fiduciary – a trustee;
flect
Meaning: bend
Examples: deflect – to bend course because of hitting something; inflection – a bending in the voice’s tone or pitch; flexible – easily bending.
gastr
Meaning: stomach
Examples: gastric – pertaining to the stomach; gastronomy – serving the stomach by providing good food; gastritis – inflammation of the stomach.
gen
Meaning: genesis, birth, production, formation, kind
Examples: genealogy – the study of the history of a family; generation – all the people born at approximately the same time; genetic -relating to heredity encoded in the genes.
ger
Meaning: old age
Examples: geriatrics – medicine pertaining to the elderly; gerontocracy – the rule of the elders; gerontology – the science of aging.
graph
Meaning: writing, recording, written
Examples: Graphology – the study of handwritings; autograph – written with one’s own hand; seismograph – a machine noting strength and duration of earthquakes. helic
Meaning: spiral, circular
Examples: helicopter – an aircraft with horizontal rotating wing; helix – a spiral form; helicon – a circular tube.
helio
Meaning: sun
Examples: heliotropism – movement or growth in relating to the sun; heliograph – apparatus used to send message with the help of sunlight; helianthus – genus of plants including sunflowers.
homo, homeo
Meaning: like, alike, same
Examples: homogeneous – of the same nature or kind; homonym – sounding alike; homeopath – a therapy that is based on treating “same with same”.
hydro
Meaning: liquid, water
Examples: hydrate – to add water to; hydrophobia – intense fear of water; hydroponics – growing plants in liquid nutrient solution; hydraulic – operated by force created by a liquid.
icono
Meaning: image
Examples: icon – an (often religious) image, in modern usage a simplified graphic of high symbolic content; iconology- science of symbols and icons; iconoclast – someone who destroys religious images and traditional beliefs.
idio
Meaning: peculiar, personal, distinct
Examples: idiomatic – Peculiar to a particular language; idiosyncracy – a physical or mental characteristic typical or a particular person; idiot – someone who is distinctly foolish or stupid.
ject
Meaning: throw
Examples: eject – to throw someone/something out; interject – to throw a remark into a discussion; project – to cast or throw something.
jud
Meaning: law
Examples: judgment – a decision of a court of law; judicial – having to do with judges or courts of law; judiciary – a system of courts of law.
kine
Meaning: motion, division, kinetics – study of the force of motion;
Examples: psychokinesis or telekinesis – the ability to move objects with your mind; cinematography – motion picture making.
lab
Meaning: work
Examples: collaborate – to work with a person; elaborate – to work out the details; laborious – requiring a lot of hard work.
lact
Meaning: milk
Examples: lactate – to give milk, nurse; lactose – the sugar contained in milk; lactic acid.
logos
Meaning: word, doctrine, discourse
Examples: logic – correct reasoning; monologue – a long speech by one speaker; analogy – similarity, especially between things otherwise dissimilar.
loqu, locu
Meaning: speak
Examples: eloquent – speaking beautifully and forcefully; loquacious – very talkative; elocution – art of public speaking.
mal
Meaning: bad, ill, wrong
Examples: malcontent – wrong content; malaria – “bad air”, infectious disease thought to originate from the “bad air” of the swamps, but caused by the bite of an infected mosquito; malicious – showing strong ill will.
meter
Meaning: measure
Examples: audiometer- an instrument that measures hearing acuteness; chronometer- an instrument that measures time; metric – measured.
osteo
Meaning: bone
Examples:osteoarthritis – inflammation caused by degeneration of the joints; osteopathy – therapy that uses among others manipulation of the skeleton to restore health; osteology – the study of bones.
oxi/oxy
Meaning: sharp
Examples: oxymoron – combining two ideas that sharply contradict each other; oxidize – corrode a surface.
para
Meaning: beside, beyond, abnormal, assistant
Examples: parasite – an organism that lives on and off another living being; parallel – alongside and always an equal distance apart; paragraph – a portion of a written document that presents a distinct idea.
para
Meaning: protection from
Examples: parachute – protection from falling; parasol – an umbrella used to protect from the sun.
pathos
Meaning: feeling, emotion
Examples: antipathy – a feeling of great dislike; apathy – a lack of feeling or interest; empathy – ability to understand another’s feelings.
radic, radix
Meaning: root
Examples: eradicate – pull out at the roots; radical – fundamental, looking at things from a drastic point of view; radish – an edible root of the mustard family. radio
Meaning: radiation, ray
Examples: radioactive – emitting radiation; radiologist – someone diagnosing or treating via radiation.
rhod
Meaning: red
Examples: rhododendron – a flower with red/pink flowers; rhodium – an element which produces a red solution; rhodopsin – a purple pigment in the retina that is needed for vision.
rid
Meaning: laugh
Examples: deride – to make fun of someone; ridicule – to make fun or mock; ridiculous – silly, causing laughter.
scop
Meaning: see, examine, observe
Examples: microscope – a device used to see tiny things; periscope – a seeing instrument on a submarine; telescope – a device used to see over a distance. scrib, script
Meaning: write, written
Examples: inscribe – to write letters or words on a surface; scribe – a person who writes out documents; describe – to represent with words or pictures.
tax
Meaning: arrangement
Examples: syntax – the systematic arrangement of words; taxonomy – the science of classification; ataxia – loss of the ability to coordinate muscle action.
techno
Meaning: technique, skill
Examples: technology – the practical application of knowledge; technocracy – rule of technology; technologically – characterized by technology.
tele
Meaning: far, distant, complete
Examples: telephone – a device to talk to a distant person; telescope – a device to view distant objects; television – a device to receive pictures from a far; telecommuting – working remotely, bridging the distance via virtual devices.
terra
Meaning: land, earth
Examples: extraterrestrial – existing outside the earth; terrain – ground or land; territory – an area of land.
theo
Meaning: god
Examples: monotheism – belief in one god; polytheism – worshiping more than one god; theology – the study of religion, god, etc.
ultra
Meaning: beyond, extreme, more than
Examples: ultrahigh – extremely high; ultramodern – more modern than anything else; ultrasonic – sound waves beyond human hearing.
urb
Meaning: city
Examples: suburb – residential area on the edge of a city; urban – relating to a city; urbanology – the study of city life.
vac
Meaning: empty
Examples: evacuate – to empty a dangerous place; vacant – empty, not occupied; vacation – a time without work.
verb
Meaning: word
Examples: verbalize – to put into words; adverb – a word relating to a verb; proverb – a short saying that expresses a well-known truth.
vers, vert
Meaning: turn
Examples: reverse – to turn around; introvert – being turned towards the inside; version – a variation of an original; controversy – a conversation in which positions are turned against each other.
vice
Meaning: acting in place of, next in rank
Examples: vice-president – the person next in rank to the president.
vic
Meaning: conquer
Examples: convince – to win someone over; invincible – not able to be conquered; victory – the conquest of an enemy.
vis, vid
Meaning: see
Examples: vision – the ability to see; envision – to picture in the mind; evident – clearly visible.
viv/ivit
Meaning: live, life
Examples: revival – the act of bringing back to life; vital – pertaining to live; vivacious – high-spirited and full of life.
voc/i
Meaning: voice, call
Examples: advocate – to speak in favor of; equivocate – to use misleading language that could be interpreted two different ways; vocalize – to produce with your voice.
vor, vour
Meaning: eat
Examples: carnivorous – meat-eating; voracious – desiring or eating food in great quantities; devour – to eat quickly.
xeno
Meaning: foreign
Examples: xenoblast, xenon – A colourless odourless inert gaseous element occurring in the earth’s atmosphere in trace amounts, xenogamy, xenophobic – afraid of foreigners; xenogenesis – the creation of offspring that is completely different from either parent; xenophile – attracted to foreigners.
xyl
Meaning: wood
Examples: xylem – The woody part of plants: the supporting and water-conducting tissue, consisting primarily of tracheids and vessels, xylocarp; xyloid- resembling wood; xylophone-an organ percussion stop of similar tone quality.
zo
Meaning: animal, animal life, living being
Examples: zoology – study of animals; zooid – one of the distinct individuals forming a colonial animal such as a bryozoan or hydrozoan; zooplankton – animal constituent of plankton; mainly small crustaceans and fish larvae.
zyg
Meaning: a pair, yoke
Examples: heterozygous – having dissimilar alleles at corresponding chromosomal loci, zygote – a cell formed by the union of two gametes and the organism developing from that; zygomorphic – capable of division into symmetrical halves by only one longitudinal plane passing through the axis.
Thanks for reading aobut “Root Words with Meanings and Examples”.