More Word Roots: It’s All Greek to Us
In Chapters 1 and 2 , we looked at many examples of Latin’s influence on the English language.
Now in this chapter we will explore the many ways that the Greek language influenced English.
Words with Greek roots show up everywhere in the English language. When you see words
containing letter combinations such as ph-, ps-, or a silent y, for example, there is a good
chance that word is derived from Greek. Let’s look at some examples.
path- emotion
That’s pathetic! You’ve probably heard or said that phrase a few times in your life, but what
does it really mean? Path- relates to emotion, so when you tell your little brother that he’s
pathetic, what you’re really saying is “I feel for you. I feel bad for you.”
The three most important path- words you should know are sympathy, empathy, and apathy.
Sym- and em-mean “with,” while a- means “without.” So, you guessed it, sympathy and
empathy mean feeling “with” someone, while apathy refers to a lack of emotion. What about
antipathy? Anti- means “against,” so antipathy is hatred. (English is easy when you know the
roots, right?)
The Path- to Success
Path- shows up in many medical terms. For instance, a pathology is a disease. An
osteopath is a type of medical doctor. We even have psychopaths in psychiatry.
What’s the connection? Well, since path- relates to emotion, a path- in medicine
pertains to human suffering (or those who aid in helping it). You are not likely to see
many medical path- words on the SAT.anthrop-; andro-; gyn-
anthrop- humans
andro- male
gyn- femaleWhat is anthropology? Well, since -ology is “the study of,” anthropology must refer to the
study of human civilizations.
You may already know that mis- in front of a word indicates a negative meaning. So, a
misanthrope hates people. Misogyny refers specifically to the hatred of women, while
misandry refers to the hatred of men.
Here are some other important words in this family of roots: