Word families, roots and origins

Many English words are built from roots that come from Latin and Greek. If you know the root, you can often work out a new word: ⟦tele⟧ means far away, so a ⟦telescope⟧ looks at things far away. A word family is a group of words made from the same root word: ⟦act⟧, ⟦action⟧, ⟦actor⟧, ⟦active⟧.

Key facts

  • Latin roots: ⟦port⟧ carry (⟦transport⟧), ⟦dict⟧ say (⟦dictionary⟧), ⟦spect⟧ look (⟦inspect⟧), ⟦struct⟧ build (⟦construct⟧), ⟦rupt⟧ break (⟦erupt⟧), ⟦aud⟧ hear (⟦audience⟧), ⟦vis⟧ see (⟦visible⟧).
  • Greek roots: ⟦tele⟧ far away (⟦television⟧), ⟦graph⟧ write (⟦autograph⟧), ⟦phon⟧ sound (⟦microphone⟧), ⟦bio⟧ life (⟦biology⟧), ⟦geo⟧ earth (⟦geography⟧), ⟦micro⟧ very small (⟦microscope⟧), ⟦therm⟧ heat (⟦thermometer⟧).
  • Number roots: ⟦mono⟧ one (⟦monorail⟧), ⟦tri⟧ three (⟦triangle⟧), ⟦cent⟧ a hundred (⟦century⟧).
  • A word family shares a root word and its meaning: ⟦help⟧, ⟦helpful⟧, ⟦helpless⟧, ⟦helper⟧. Prefixes and suffixes make the new words.
  • Knowing the family helps with spelling: ⟦sign⟧ → ⟦signature⟧ explains the silent ⟦g⟧; ⟦music⟧ → ⟦musician⟧ explains the ⟦c⟧.

Worked examples

Example 1

What does ⟦aquatic⟧ probably mean? (⟦aqua⟧ = water)

  1. The root ⟦aqua⟧ means water, as in ⟦aquarium⟧.
  2. So ⟦aquatic⟧ animals live in water.

Answer: living or happening in water

Example 2

Which root do ⟦telephone⟧, ⟦telescope⟧ and ⟦television⟧ share?

  1. All three start with ⟦tele⟧.
  2. ⟦tele⟧ means far away: you hear, see or watch something far away.

Answer: ⟦tele⟧

Example 3

Which word is in the same family as ⟦child⟧: ⟦childhood⟧ or ⟦chill⟧?

  1. ⟦childhood⟧ is the time when you are a child.
  2. ⟦chill⟧ only looks similar: its meaning has nothing to do with children.

Answer: ⟦childhood⟧