Why roots are worth your time
Most long English words were not made from nothing. They were built from parts, and many of those parts came from Latin or Greek. Once you know that tract means "pull", you have a head start on attract, extract and distract. You still need the sentence to pin down the exact meaning, but you are no longer starting from zero.
This list is a follow-on to our guide to root words and etymology. That guide covers eight common roots, such as port, spec and dict. The 24 roots here are different ones. Each comes with its meaning and three or four everyday examples.
Moving, sending and pushing
Many Latin verbs of moving and placing live on inside English. Add a prefix such as ex- (out), re- (back) or pro- (forward) and you get a whole family.
| Root | Meaning | Example words |
|---|---|---|
| duc, duct (Latin ducere) | to lead | conduct, deduce, introduce, aqueduct |
| mit, miss (Latin mittere) | to send | transmit, mission, emit, submit |
| ject (Latin iacere) | to throw | reject, project, inject, eject |
| tract (Latin trahere) | to pull, to drag | attract, extract, distract, tractor |
| ced, ceed, cess (Latin cedere) | to go, to yield | proceed, precede, recede, access |
| pel, puls (Latin pellere) | to drive, to push | compel, expel, propel, impulse |
| pon, pos (Latin ponere) | to put, to place | postpone, component, opponent, deposit |
Notice how the prefix does half the work. To expel is to push out. To propel is to push forward. To postpone is to put after.
Seeing, hearing, knowing and believing
These roots turn up in words about the mind and the senses. They are common in reports, news writing and academic texts.
| Root | Meaning | Example words |
|---|---|---|
| aud (Latin audire) | to hear | audience, audible, audit, auditorium |
| vid, vis (Latin videre) | to see | evidence, visible, revise, video |
| cogn (Latin) / gnos (Greek) | to know | recognition, cognitive, diagnosis, agnostic |
| sent, sens (Latin sentire) | to feel, to perceive | sensitive, consent, sentiment, sensation |
| cred (Latin credere) | to believe, to trust | credible, credit, incredible, credentials |
A credible source is one you can believe. Credentials are the qualifications or documents that show you can be trusted. The link is clear once you see the root.
Life, body and people
This group mixes Latin and Greek. The Greek roots are especially common in science, medicine and the social sciences.
| Root | Meaning | Example words |
|---|---|---|
| vit, viv (Latin vita, vivere) | life, to live | vital, vivid, survive, revive |
| bio (Greek bios) | life | biology, biography, antibiotic, symbiosis |
| corp (Latin corpus) | body | corporate, incorporate, corpse, corps |
| man, manu (Latin manus) | hand | manual, manufacture, manipulate, manicure |
| ped (Latin pes, pedis) | foot | pedestrian, pedal, impede, expedite |
| dem (Greek demos) | people | democracy, epidemic, demographic, endemic |
| anthrop (Greek anthropos) | human being | anthropology, philanthropy, misanthrope |
Some of these hide a small story. In Latin, impedire meant to shackle someone's feet, and expedire meant to free them. That is why to impede is to hold back and to expedite is to speed up. Manufacture once meant making something by hand, which is no longer true of most factories.
Time, distance, sound and measurement
These Greek roots are the building blocks of many technical words. They also combine with each other: telephone is "far" plus "sound".
| Root | Meaning | Example words |
|---|---|---|
| chron (Greek chronos) | time | chronic, chronological, chronicle, anachronism |
| tele (Greek) | far, at a distance | telescope, telegram, telepathy, television |
| graph (Greek graphein) | to write, to draw | autograph, paragraph, photograph, graphic |
| phon (Greek phone) | sound, voice | symphony, phonetic, microphone, saxophone |
| metr, meter (Greek metron) | measure | thermometer, symmetry, geometry, diameter |
A chronic illness is one that lasts a long time. An anachronism is something placed in the wrong time, like a wristwatch in a film set in ancient Rome.
Watch for look-alikes
Roots are clues, not proof. Some words share the same letters by accident. Audacious looks as if it contains aud (hear), but it comes from Latin audax, "bold", from a verb meaning "to dare". The ped in pediatric and pedagogy is not the Latin word for foot. It comes from Greek pais, "child".
Meanings also drift over centuries. A root tells you where a word started, not always where it ended up. That is why the sentence you are reading should always have the last word.
How to use roots while you read
You do not need to memorise this whole list before you start. Use it as a habit instead.
1. Spot the parts
When a long word stops you, look for a prefix, a root and an ending. Unpredictable breaks into un-, pre-, dict and -able. Inaudible breaks into in-, aud and -ible.
2. Guess from the root and the sentence
Put the root meaning and the context together. In "The tremor was so slight it was inaudible to the nearby residents", the root says "hear", the prefix says "not", and the sentence confirms it: they could not hear it. Make your guess before you look anything up. The small effort of guessing helps the word stick.
3. Check, then keep the sentence
Confirm your guess in a dictionary. If it was wrong, notice why. Then save the word with the sentence where you found it. A word you met in context is easier to recall than a word on a list. Our post on how to remember new English words while reading online explains why.
4. Collect the family
When you learn one member of a family, look for its relatives. If you just met propel, you already know most of compel, expel and repel. One root, four words.
5. Review on a schedule
Roots help you understand a word today. Spaced review helps you still know it next month. Test yourself on saved words after a day, then a few days, then a week or more. Our guide to vocabulary flashcards has more on this.
How WordDNA shows roots in Stemmy
Stemmy is a free Chrome extension for learning words from what you already read. Once you are signed in with a free account, highlight a word, click the Stemmy button beside it or press Alt+Shift+D, and the Ghost Card shows the meaning that fits your sentence, the word's roots (we call this WordDNA) and its pronunciation. You see the root at the moment you are already curious about the word, without leaving the page.
AI features need a free account (Google Sign-In or email). Each account gets 150 free AI uses in total, once; Ghost Card lookups and cloud voice draw on them.
If you want to keep a word, save it to your Vocabulary Wallet. Stemmy stores the word with its meaning, the source sentence and the page link, so you can come back to the context later. Short review sessions then bring back only the words that are due. You rate each one Again, Hard, Good or Easy. Free to install. No paid plan is offered today.
Frequently asked questions
How many roots should I learn first?
Start with a handful that match what you read. If you read business news, roots like cred, pon and tract will come up often. If you read science, start with bio, chron and metr. Ten roots you actually meet are worth more than fifty you only study.
Can I always trust a root to give me the meaning?
No. A root is a strong clue, but meanings change over time and some words only look related. Audacious has nothing to do with hearing, and the ped in pediatric means child, not foot. Always check your guess against the sentence and a dictionary.
What is the difference between a root and a prefix?
The root carries the core meaning, such as tract for pull. A prefix comes before it and changes the meaning, such as ex- for out or re- for back. Together they give you extract, to pull out, and retract, to pull back.
Does Stemmy show word roots?
Yes. Stemmy's Ghost Card includes WordDNA, which shows a word's roots next to the meaning that fits your sentence. Ghost Card lookups need a free account, and each account gets 150 free AI uses in total, once.