PREFIXES, SUFFIXES, AND WORD ROOTS 177
WORD ROOTS
The following table lists the most common word roots, their meanings, and exam-
ples of words with those roots.
There are more than 150 roots here, but don’t be intimidated by the length of
this list. To learn these roots, try breaking the list down into manageable chunks of
ten to 20 roots and memorize them section by section. Some of these roots many
already be familiar to you—you use words with these roots every day!
ROOT MEANING EXAMPLES
ac, acr sharp, bitter acid, acute, acrimonious
act, ag to do, to drive, to force, to lead agent, enact, agitate
ad, al to, toward, near adjacent, adhere, allure
al, ali, alter other, another alternative, alias, alien
am love amiable, amity, enamor
amb to go, to walk ambulatory, preamble, ambush
amb, amph both, more than one, around ambiguous, ambivalent, amphitheater
anim life, mind, soul, spirit unanimous, animosity, equanimity
annui, ennui year annual, anniversary, perennial
anthro, andr man, human anthropology, android, misanthrope
apo away apology, apocalypse, apotheosis
apt, ept skill, fitness, ability adapt, adept, inept
arch, archi, archy chief, principal, ruler hierarchy, monarchy, anarchy
auto self automatic, autonomy, automaton
be to be, to have a certain quality befriend, bemoan, belittle
bel, bell war rebel, belligerent, antebellum
ben, bon good benefit, benevolent, bonus
cad, cid to fall, to happen by chance accident, coincidence, cascade
cant, cent, chant to sing chant, enchant, recant
cap, capit, cipit head, headlong capital, principal, capitulate
cap, cip, cept to take, to get capture, intercept, emancipate
card, cord, cour heart encourage, cardiac, discord
carn flesh carnivore, reincarnation, carnage
cast, chast cut caste, chastise, castigate
ced, ceed, cess to go, to yield, to stop exceed, concede, incessant
centr center central, concentric, eccentric
cern, cert, cret, to separate, to judge, to distinguish, ascertain, critique, discern
crim, crit to decide
chron time chronic, chronology, synchronize