UOL - Decoding words

Decoding words

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By Ale Osorio

happiness

Un

Today's objectives

Learn how to break apart words into digestible and understandable pieces.

Identify word roots, suffixes and prefixes.

Acquires interest in the background of words.

Word roots

Root words, especially those from other languages, tell us a lot about how a language evolved, how it is related to other languages, and what major historical influences caused it to change.

Prefixes generally mean the same thing no matter what word they belong to. For example, the prefixes syn- and -sym mean “to do something together”: When syn- is added to thesis, it makes synthesis, a “combination of ideas to form a theory or system.” When sym- is added to phony, it makes symphony, meaning “music intended for a full orchestra.”

Take the Latin root “ject,” for example. We see it in reject, eject, and interject. Those words can mean, respectively, throw away, throw out, and throw in between. We can see that “ject” has something to do with throwing things. In fact, it comes from Latin “jec,” which was a form of the verb “jacere” (to throw). Root words don’t have to be simple or obvious at all, but they are still well worth studying and learning.

What are prefixes?

Prefixes are one- to three-syllable affixes added to the beginning of a base word to slightly change its meaning. For example, adding the prefix im- to the base word possible creates a new word, impossible, which means “not possible.”

Prefixes generally mean the same thing no matter what word they belong to. For example, the prefixes syn- and -sym mean “to do something together”: When syn- is added to thesis, it makes synthesis, a “combination of ideas to form a theory or system.” When sym- is added to phony, it makes symphony, meaning “music intended for a full orchestra.”

a- [no/without] anti- [againts/opposing] mid- [in the middle] self- [directed toward oneself]

What are suffixes?

Suffixes are letters added to the end of a base word to change its conjugation, word type, or other grammar properties like plurality. For example, take the noun strength: You can add the suffix –s to make it plural (strengths) or the suffix –en to change it into a verb (strengthen). You can then add the suffix –ed to make that verb past tense (strengthened).

quick [adjective] quickness [noun] quicken [verb] quickly [adverb]

react

over

port

tele

trans

legal

Activity

Build words

use

able

il

ful

read

ness

man

ly

re

less

ing

less

date

hope

kind

rest

un

do

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