Building a Better Vocabulary

Lecture 25: Words for Killing and Cutting

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or conclusion and “cutting off” other possibilities.

z The root cide can also be spelled cise. To remember this root,

think of the word scissors, which ultimately derives from the verb

caedo. Words with the cise root include incisive, incisors, incision,

and excise.

Caesura (noun)

A break or pause.

z In prosody—the study of poetic meter—and in musical composition,

a caesura is a small pause in the middle of a line of verse or music.

The word can also be used to mean any break or interruption, as in

a pause or interruption in a speech or conversation.

z Caesura is borrowed directly from the Latin noun caesura, which

again, comes from the verb caedo, “to cut.”

Vivisection (noun)

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z The Latin root spelled seg or sect also means “to cut.” Key words

for this root include segment and section, both of which derive from

the Latin verb seco, “to cut.” Other words with this root include

insect, segment, section, intersection, bisect, transect, and dissect.

z The target word here, vivisection, is a particular type of dissection

performed on living animals to enable researchers to observe the

functioning of organs. The vivi part of the word is from the Latin

adjective vivus, meaning “alive.”

z In the past, especially during the age of early medical advances,

vivisection was commonplace. These days, many scientists consider