Root Words and Meaning O – R

There are hundreds of words in English that have roots in Latin and Greek, a lot of these words are similar to words in French, Italian and Spanish. Knowing the meanings of these word roots can help you guess the meanings of words you don’t know.

Many of these words are found most often in formal and academic English.

A root can be found in the beginning, middle or end of a word.

Root	Meaning	Examples
pater (Latin)	father	paternity, paternal, patron, patronise, perpetrate, patriot
path (Greek)	disease, feeling	sympathy, pathology, apathy, pathological, sociopath
ped, pod (La, Gk)	foot	pedestrian, podiatrist, centipede, pedal, podium, pedestal
pend (Latin)	hang	pendant, pendulum, suspend, pending, pendulous
phil (Greek)	love	philosophy, anglophile, Francophile, bibliophile
phob (Latin)	fear	phobia, claustrophobia, arachnophobia, agoraphobia
phon (Greek)	sound	phonology, telephone, phonetics, symphony, saxophone
phot, phos (Greek)	light	photograph, phosphorus, photon, photobiotic, photopathy
phys (Greek)	body, nature	physique, physics, physician, physiognomy, physiology
plex, plic (Latin)	fold, twist, bend	complex, complicate, inexplicable, accomplice, duplicity
poly (Greek)	many	polygon, polygamous, polyglot, polyhedron, Polynesia
port (Latin)	carry	Portable, import, export, deport, report, portal, port
pos, pon (Latin)	place, put	deposit, postpone, component, opponent, exponent
psych (Greek)	mind	psychology, psychic, psychiatry, psychosis, psychotic
quad (Latin)	four	quadrangle, quadruple, quadrant, quadruplet, quad
reg, rect (Latin)	rule, right	regulation, correct, regimented, rectify, regicide, direct
rupt (Latin)	break	rupture, interrupt, incorruptible, eruption, abrupt, corrupt

 

The suffix ‘ology’ means ‘subject of study’, so what do you think the following words mean?

pathology: ‘The pathologist carried out a postmortem examination of the body and informed the police’.

phonology: ‘Henry Higgins was a professor of phonology, he claimed he could identify where someone lived just from hearing them speak’.

psychology: ‘She’s a leading psychologist who works with psychopaths and murderers’.

 

The prefix ‘Anglo’ means ‘England’, so what do you think an ‘Anglophile’ is? ‘My American friend is a huge Anglophile, he loves the royal family and often adopts an English accent’.

 

The prefix ‘Franco’ means ‘France’, so what do you think a ‘Francophile’ might be? ‘

 

The root word ‘soph’ means ‘wisdom’, so what do you think ‘philosophy’ means? ‘Philosophy should be taught in schools, it’s important to learn how to think logically’.

 

‘Psych’ means mind and one of the meanings of ‘path’ is ‘disease’, so what is a ‘psychopath’? ‘Not all psychopaths are dangerous, a lot of CEOs in top companies display psychopathic traits, apparently’.

Check your ideas in the dictionary.