A lot of aspirants deal with “Anglophobia” while preparing/taking up the competitive exams. With the banking exams increasingly being drawn on the lines of the management exams, it is becoming all the more important for the aspirants to acquaint themselves with good grammar and vocabulary. For this, we bring to you the article which will give you an insight as to how to learn words in English in a more systematic way and retain them for a longer duration thereby overcoming the phobia.
A word’s origin comes from the language it has been derived from. English has a myriad of words that have their origin rooted in some other language. As an aspirant, one must have an enquiring mind. When you learn a word, you must learn the fact where it came from too.
What is a "root" word?
It is the most basic form of a word which will help you break down large words into smaller units. This will get us to root words and by learning just one of them we can understand several words in English.
Most English root words came from the Greek and Latin languages.
A root can be any part of a word; the beginning, middle or end. It carries the meaning of the word. Prefixes appearing at the beginning of a word, base in the middle of a word and suffix at the end of a word are all kinds of roots.
The tri in the tricycle is a prefix that means “three”.
The less in heartless is a suffix that means “without” (which is why heartless means “without a heart”; unkind).
As said earlier, words are made from root words with prefixes and suffixes. Let us explore some of these root words which are most frequently used in English.
1. Root Word: pan
Meaning: all
Words: pandemic, panacea, panorama
2. Root Word: logy
Meaning of the English root word: a study of something
Words: theology, physiology, geology
3. Root Word: medi
Meaning: medium
Words: medieval, medium
4. Root Word: Soli
Meaning: Single
Words: Solitude, Solitary, solidify
5. Root Word: Cide
Meaning: killing or murder or cutting
Words: suicide, homicide, patricide
6. Root Word: Pater or patri
Meaning: Father or fatherhood or relating to father or fatherland.
Words: Compatriot, expatriate
7. Root word: Bell or belli
Meaning: war, fight resistance
Words: Rebellious, bellicose
8. Root word: Act
Meaning: move, go, do, drive, urge, act
Example: activist, counteract
9. Root word: Gyn
Meaning: (woman)
Example: gynaecology, misogyny
Remember, root words can have more than one meaning when combined with affixes and sometimes words that look similar may come from different roots. Saying this, we wind up our article here. Hope it served its purpose well.
Happy studying!
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