Latin Roots and Their Meanings

Sect-

to cut

Pugn-

fight

Pugnacious

belligerent, combative

Repugnant

enticing distaste or aversion

Impugn

attack or oppose as false or lacking integrity

Pugilistic

having to do with boxing

-cide/-cis

to kill

Parricide

the murder of a close kinsman

Concise

marked by brevity of expression or statement

Sci-

to know

Prescient

having knowledge of events before they take place

Omniscient

knowing everything

Lu, luc-

light

Luminous

of or relating to light or to luminous flux

Lucid

clear to the understanding, intelligible

Pellucid

admitting maximum passage of light with distortion

Translucent

permitting the passage of light

Litera

letter

Cord-

heart

Accord

agreement, conformity, harmony

Concord

a state of agreement, harmony

Discord

lack of agreement or harmony

Frang, fract, -fringe

to break

Infringe

to encroach upon in a way that violates law or the rights of another

Refraction

deflection from a straight path undergone by a light ray or energy wave

Solv-

loosen

Solvent

able to pay all legal debts; something that dissolves or disperses

Absolve

set free from an obligation or the consequences of guilt (or sin)

Dissolution

lacking restraint, especially in morals or lifestyle

Resolve

find an answer or solution to

Prehend, prehens-

to seize

Prehensile

adapted for seizing or grasping

Apprehensive

viewing the future with anxiety or alarm

Reprehensible

worth or deserving of censure or blame, moral condemnation

Rid/Ris-

to laugh

Ridicule

the subjection of someone or something to contemptuous and dismissive language or behavior

Risible

arousing laughter, capable of being laughed at

Deride

to laugh at contemptuously

Derision

cruel, contemptuous laughter

Nasc/Nat-

birth

Nascent

coming into existence and displaying signs of future potential

Renascent, Renaissance

rising again

Natal

time of birth

Prenatal

before birth

Nativity

occasion of birth

Nation, national, nature

related to a group of people or the natural world

Innate

inborn natural

pati/pass-

to suffer