English Root Words

agi/act/ig

do, act, set in motion

anim/anima

life, mind, spirit

clas/clast/clasm

break, break in pieces

infer/ inference

arriving at a reasonable conclusion based on evidence

mono

one, only, single

clam/claim

shout, cry out, call out

poly

many

idiom

an expression or a figure of speech that doesn’t make sense if taken literally, but is commonly understood by a large group

apt/ept

suitable, fix

homo

same, like

genre

pertaining to distinctive literary type

dyn/dyna

power

pro

for, before, forward

denotation

explicit or direct meaning of a word or expression

cad/cas/cid/cis

fall

micro

small, one millionth

connotation

the suggesting of additional meanings by a word or expression

carn

meat/flesh

di

two/twice

archetypes

original model or pattern on which all other things of the same kind are based

chron

time

tri

three

allusion

expression designed to call something to mind in an indirect or passive manner

equ/equi

same/equal

endo

inside/within

excerpt

a short sample taken from a piece of writing, film, broadcast, or music

err/errat

wander, stray, make a mistake

exo

outside

rhetoric/rhetorical

the study of the effective use of language

flect/flex

bend

bi

two/twice

prose

written or spoken language in its ordinary form, without metrical structure