Nov '24 • For Students
The Importance of Root Words!
Root words saved my test score in high school!
I took four years of Latin in middle and high school, and my teachers would generally give extra credit if we could identify derivatives - English words taken from that week’s Latin nouns and verbs. At one point, I remember barely spending any time at all on the quiz itself, but turning in my paper last because I filled the white space with derivatives.
Flash forward to the SAT my junior year. I only took it once and scored in the 1400s when that actually meant something. Amid a sea of analogies and boring reading passages, the one thing that saved my verbal score was my knowledge of Latin roots!
Today, not many students study Latin, but they can still benefit from Greek and Latin roots as they prepare for standardized testing season. Start with a list of 50-100 of the most common Greek and Latin roots. With each root, write down as many derivatives as you can think of, and make sure the short definition you give each word ties back to the meaning of the root.
Example: “chron-” is the Greek root “chronos,” meaning “time.” Your short definitions should all have something to do with time. So you might come up with a list of words that looks like this:
Chronology - a listing of events in time order
Dendrochronology - the study of the age of trees (the *time* they have existed) through their rings
Chronometer (n.) - an instrument that tells time (like a watch)
Synchronous (adj.) - happening at the same time
Synchronize (v.) - the act of making things happen at the same time
Synchronization (n.) - the state in which things happen at the same time
Synchronicity (n.) - apparently unrelated things happening at the same time
Chronic - a condition that comes back time after time
Chronological - happening in time order
Asynchronous - not necessarily meeting at the same time
Chronicle - a record of events as they happened in time
Anachronism - a phenomenon out of place according to time (example: extras in old gladiator movies wearing watches)
The definitions won’t necessarily be perfect, and that’s okay! Make sure each new word gets its own line and definition! The more you do an activity like this one, the more you start to see how certain prefixes and suffixes influence the meanings of words.
Of course, this activity won’t be easy to start, and you may need to use a dictionary to define the words at first. But a few words a day will increase your vocabulary, and I guarantee that you will see a few of those roots on your standardized test!
OK - now it’s your turn. Today’s roots are as follows:
Latin: “ambi,” meaning “both”
Greek: “arche/archae,” meaning “old”
Write down at least five English words derived from each of these roots, and write a short definition relating your word to the original root. Good luck!
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The Importance of Root Words!
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