Vocabulary 2: Using word parts

Antidisestablishmentarianism.
When I was a child, this was regarded as the longest word in the English language. Do you know what it means? I'm sure you don't as it is rarely used nowadays. Let's see if we can work out what it means. Let's break it down into its parts.

Word part	Meaning
anti-	against, or opposed to
-dis-	reverse, removal, apart
-establishment-	a special use of this word meaning the position of the Church of England as the state, or official,  church in England
-arian-	someone who believes in, or a supporter
-ism	a principle, believe or movement

We can now see that antidisestablishmentarianism was the word used to describe the belief (or the movement) of those people who were against those other people who wished to remove the Church of England from its privileged place as the official state church in England.

Word parts
Many English words come from Latin, Greek, French, German and Norse roots. If you can remember some of the most common of these roots, you will have a powerful tool for 'guessing' new vocabulary.

Task 1: Earlier we saw that the prefix 'hypo-' comes from Greek and means below, low or insufficient. Its opposite (also from Greek) is 'hyper-' meaning too much or excessive. We also saw that the root 'therm' means heat. In a previous unit we looked at the word 'hypothermia'. What does it mean?
Now try to guess the meaning of hyperthermia, hyperactive and hyperacid.
Task 2: Check in your dictionary and see if you were correct.
Task 3: Check the word 'polygon' in your dictionary. What do the two parts 'poly' and 'gon' mean?
Task 4: Check the word 'trimorph' in your dictionary. What do the two parts 'tri' and 'morph' mean?
Task 5: Check the word 'neologism' in your dictionary. What do the two parts 'neo' and 'log' mean?
Task 6: Now try to guess the meaning of polymorph, trigon, antimorph, hypomorph, hypermorph, and neomorph.

Task 7: Check in your dictionary and see if you were correct.
Task 8: Would you describe any of these words as neologisms.

Below are lists of some common word parts. There are many more such lists.

Latin root	Meaning	Examples
-dict-	say	contradict, dictate, diction, edict, predict
-duc-	lead	deduce, produce, reduce
-gress-	walk	digress, progress, transgress
-ject-	throw	eject, inject, interject, project, reject, subject
-pel-	drive	compel, dispel, impel, repel
-pend-	hang	append, depend, impend, pendant, pendulum
-port-	carry	comport, deport, export, import, report, support
-scrib-, -script-	write	describe, description, subscription, transcribe
-tract-	pull	attract, contract, detract, extract, protract,  traction
-vert-	turn	convert, divert, invert, revert

Latin prefix	Meaning	Examples
co-	together	cooperate, coauthor, coterminus
de-	away, off	deactivate, defrost, decompress
dis-	not	discomfort, discredit, disrepair, disrespect
inter-	between, among	international, intercellular, interject
non-	not	nonessential, nonmetallic, nonstop
post-	after	postdate, postwar, postnatal
pre-	before	preconceive, preexist, premeditate, prepay
re-	again, back	rearrange, rebuild, recall, remake, rerun, rewrite
sub-	under	submarine, subsoil, subway,  substandard
trans-	across, through	transatlantic, transpolar, transport

Latin suffix	Meaning	Examples
-able, -ible	forms adjectives, means “capable or worthy of”	likable, flexible
-ation	forms nouns from verbs	creation, civilization, automation,
-fy, -ify	forms verbs, means “to make or cause to become”	purify, acidify, humidify
-ment	forms nouns from verbs	government,  statement
-ty, -ity	forms nouns from adjectives	subtlety, certainty, cruelty,  loyalty

Greek root	Meaning	Examples
-anthrop-	human	misanthrope, philanthropy, anthropomorphic
-chron-	time	anachronism, chronic, synchronize, chronometer
-dem-	people, crowd	democracy, demography, endemic, pandemic
-morph-	form, shape	amorphous, metamorphic, morphology
-path-	feeling	empathy, sympathy, apathy,  psychopathic
-pedo-,ped-	child	pediatrician, pedagogue
-phil-	love for	philanthropy, philharmonic, philosophy
re-	again, back	philanthropy, philharmonic, philosophy
-phon-	sound	polyphonic, cacophony, phonetics

Gr. prefix	Meaning	Examples
a-, an-	without	amoral, atypical, anaerobic
anti-, ant-	opposing	anticrime, antipollution, antacid
auto-	self	autobiography, automatic, autopilot
bio-	life	biology, biophysics, biotechnology, biopsy
geo-	earth	geography, geomagnetism, geophysics, geopolitics
hyper-	excessive	hyperactive, hypercritical, hypersensitive
micro-	small	microcosm, micronucleus, microscope
mono-	one	monochrome, monosyllable, monoxide
pan-	all	panorama, panchromatic, pandemic, pantheism
therm-	heat	thermal, thermometer, thermostat

Gr. Suffix	Meaning	Examples
-ism	-ism forms nouns, means “the act, state, or theory of”	criticism, optimism, capitalism
-ist	forms agent nouns from verbs ending in -ize or nouns ending in -ism and is used like -er	conformist, copyist, cyclist
-ize	forms verbs from nouns and adjectives	modernize,  industrialize, computerize
-gram	something written or drawn	cardiogram, telegram
-graph	something written or drawn	monograph, phonograph, seismograph
-logue, -log	speech, discourse	monologue, dialogue, travelogue
-ology	science, theory, study	phraseology, biology, dermatology
-meter	measuring device	kilometer, parameter, perimeter
-oid	forms adjectives and nouns and means “like, resembling” or “shape,	humanoid, spheroid, trapezoid
-phobia	fear of	agoraphobia,  xenophobia

For a useful list of scientific word roots see Word Roots and Combining Forms

Polymorph: In general, a polymorph is something that can exist in several states or forms.
Trigon: A trigon is a rarely used synonym for a triangle. Think of the trigonometry you studied in mathematics at high school.
1946 Nobel Prize winner Hermann J. Muller (1890-1967) coined the terms amorph, hypomorph, hypermorph, antimorph and neomorph to classify mutations based on their behaviour in various genetic situations.
Hypomorph: Hypomorphic describes a mutation that causes a partial loss of gene function.
Hypermorph: A hypermorphic mutation causes an increase in normal gene function.
Antimorph: Antimorphs are dominant mutations that act in opposition to normal gene activity.
Neomorph: A Neomorphic mutation causes a dominant gain of gene function that is different from the normal function.
From reference.com at http://www.reference.com/browse/wiki/Muller's_morphs

Move on the next unit: Vocabulary 3