What is a Root?

Imagine you come across a long crazy word you have never seen before. If you can't figure it out, you will miss out on a really cool detail in your favorite books. Well, if you know part of the word or the ROOT, you can use context clues to figure out the entire meaning of the strange new word. If you can figure out where the word comes from or the origin of the root, you can figure out it's meaning too. 

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Common Greek Roots

Many words in English seem like they are related. Biology, psychology, anthology, astrology, dermatology... These words seem related because they are related. Each word has the Greek root -logy, meaning 'the study of'.

• A democratic government is elected by the people.

• Anthropology is the study of humans, their cultures, and their communities.

• Chronology is the ordering or sequencing of events according to time.

 

Four common Greek roots and their meanings

 

Phon is a very common root: you probably use a telephone to call people, you can listen to music on a phonograph, and studying phonics can help you sound out words.