Word Chest – Week 13 | Greek Roots or Prefixes

Welcome back!
Let's do a little exercise from last week's lesson on Latin Roots or Prefixes

What are the English meanings of these Latin words?

a. pater–
If you whispered father or belonging to a father then you are not wrong. Examples include paternal, patricide etc.

b. locus–
The etymology of “locus–” can be traced back to its Latin root “locus” which means place. Examples are local, locate, locomotion etc.

c. porto
Means “I carry or convey”. When attached to other morphemes, you can have words like “import”, “transport” etc. As you have observed in the examples above, the root word comes last. Hence, in the words im + port and trans + port, they do not act as prefixes.

d. curro–
It means “to run”. That is, something is still active or moving. “curro–” is the Latin root word for current.

e. mittō–
To send. An example is the word “mission”.

Next in line are Greek roots or prefixes. You want to learn more about this. Here is a table below:

Roots or Affixes	Old Greek Orthography	English Meaning	Some Examples
amphi–	ἀμφί	around or both sides	amphibian, amphibious, amphicarpic, amphitheatre
anti–	ἀντι	against or opposed to	antiseptic, anti-ageing, antidote, antisocial, antithesis, anti-semitic, anti-aircraft
auto–	αὐτός	of oneself	autonomous, autobiography, automatic, autocratic, autograph
biblio–	?	of books (similar to liber in Latin	biblioclasm, bibliogenesis, bibliography, bibliophile
bio–	βίο	of life	biota, biography, biology biochemistry, biodata
dia–	διά	across	diameter, diagonal
geo–	γεω	of the earth	geography, geology, geopolitics, geocide
haemo–	αἱμο	of blood	haemoglobin, haemophilia, haemorrhage
hetero–	ἕτερος	different	heterosexual, heterodox, heterogeneous, heterosexuality
homo–	ὁμός	same	homodox, homonym, homophones, homosexual
hyper–	ὑπέρ	above, beyond	hypertension, hyperactive, hyperbole, hypervolemia
hypo–	ὑπο	below or under	hypothesis, hypoactive, hypoacidic
mono–	μόνος	one	monopoly, monocotyledon, monologue, monotonous
ortho–	ὀρθός	right; proper	orthodox, orthodontics
philo–	φίλος	love for	philosophy, philo-semitism
phone–	φωνή	sound	phoneme, phonetics, phonology
pseudo–	ψευδής	false	pseudonym, pseudodox

WORD FOR THE WEEK
Librocubicularist
Loves the way my tongue and lip move while trying to articulate this word. Here is what it means:
A person who reads in bed

Most of us are guilty of this habit. Now you know the perfect name for people who fall under this category of readers. lol

Sources:
Eyoh, L. (2016). Effective Use of English. Nigeria: Calabar
Google
Wikdictionary