• a= not or without (amoral)
• an= not or without (anaerobic) (anarchy: without rule or government)
• eu= good (eulogy: good speech) (euphemism: polite expression)
• ben-/bon-= good (benefit) (benevolent: good or kind)
•  caco-= bad
• de= down from, away from (to put down) (descend or depart: to go down or away from)
• ex= out of, away from
• ne-/mal-= bad (negarious & malicious: full of bad or wicked and harmful)
• im- = not (something impossible) (implacable: isn't able to be calmed down, because placate means ease one's anger.)
• in-=not (something inappropriate, isn't apropriate)
• ante-= before (antebellum: before the war)
• post-= after

• -ette= little (dinette: little dining table)
• -illo= little: (armadillo: a little armored animal)
• -ous= full of (very): someone joyous is full of joy
• -ist= a person: (pacifist: a person wo believes in peace) (pac means peace or calm)
• -ify (-efy)= to make: beautify; to make beautiful. ossify; to make bone.
• -ize= to make. immunize; to make imune. ostracize; to make separate from the group, or to shun.
• -ate= to make: to duplicate is to make double. (nov means new)(plac means peace or calm)
• -ity= a noun suffix that doesn't actually mean anything; it just turns a word into a noun.

Roots

(a core part of a word that gives the word its basic meaning)

• ambu= walk, move; in a hospital patients are either bedridden (they can't move) or ambulatory (they can walk and move about). A somnambulist is a sleepwalker.
• andro= man: an android is a robot shaped like a man
• anthro= human or mankind: Anthropology is the study of humans. A misanthrope hates humans.)
• bellu, beli= war, fight: If youre belligerent, you're ready to fight.
• cred= trust or belief: something incredible is unbelievable (be careful not to confuse the words credible and credulous. Something credible is trustable or believable. A credible excuse can get you out of trouble if ou turn a paper in late. Credulous on the other hand means full of trust naive or fullible)
• gnos= knowledge: a doctor shos his or her knowledge by making a diagnosis.
• grep= group, herd: a congregation is a group or herd of people. A pregarious person likes to be part of a group. (se- means apart or away from, as in separate, sever, sequester, and seclusion)
• gyn= woman: a gynecologist is a physician who treats women. A misogynist is a person who hates women.
• loq, log, loc, lix= speech or talk: someone loquacious talks alot
• luc, lum, lus= light, clear:something luminous is shiny and full of light
• meta= beyond, after: a metamorphosis is a change of shape beyond the present shape
• morph= shape: someting amorphous is without shape.
• mut= change: dont confuse this with mute
• pac= peace, calm: why do you give a baby a pacifier
• path= feeling: something pathetic arouses feeling or pity
• phon=sound: phonics helps you to sound out words

• plac= peace, calm: to placate someone is to calm him or her down or to make peace with that person
• pro= big, much: profuse apologies are big, or much.
• pug= war, fight: someone pugnacious is ready to fight
• scien= knowledge: prescient has forethought or knowledge ahead of time
• som= sleep
• son= sound: a sonic boom. a sonorous voice has a good sound
• sop= sleep: a glass of warm milk is a soporific.

• aberrant: abnormal; different from the accepted norm
• abeyance: state of suspension; temporary inaction
• abstemious: characterized by state of self-denial, particularly in the area of food or drink
• acquiescent: agreeing without protest
• acrid: bitter;harsh
• acrimonious: bitter in temper, manner and speech
• acumen: keenness; quickness of intellectual insight
• admonition: a gentle reproof
• affront: to offend, as with a gesture
• aggrandize: to widen in scope or make bigger
• aggregate: amounting to a whole
• allay: to reduce the intensity of
• amalgamate: to mix or blend together in a homogenous body
• ameliorate: to make better or improve
• anecdote: a short account of an interesting incident
• archipelago: a large group of islands
• artifice: cleverness or skill
• ascetic: given to severe self-denial; practiving excessive abstinence
• assiduous: persistent, uneasing
• astute: keen; wise
• audacious: fearless
• austere: unadorned; severely simple
• aver: to avouch, justify or prove

• Banal: trite; commonplace
• base: the underlying concept of a system or theory
• beset: to surround, as in an attack
• blatant: offensivel loud
• bolster: to support; reinforce
• bombastic: using inflated language; pompous
• boon: a timely benefit
• brevity: briefness or conciseness
• browbeat: to intimidate in an overbearing manner
• bumptious: offensively self assertive; pushy
• bungle: to perform clumsily or inadequately; botch
• burgeon: to grow forth; to send out buds

• cacophony: a disagreeable, harsh, or discordant sound or tone
• callous: insensitive; indifferent
• calumniate: to make false and malicious statements about
• candor: to be open and sincere
• chicanery: use of trickery to deceive
• churl: a rude, boorish, or surly person
• coda: concluding section of a musical or literary piece; something that summarizes
• cognizant: aware; taking notice
• colloquial: pertaining to common speech
• complacency: a feeling of quiet security
• confidante: one to whom secrets are confided
• congruous: appropriate or fitting
• consternation: panic
• contentious: quarrelsome
• contrite: penitent
• contumacious: rebellious
• corroborate: to make more certain; confirm
• countenance: appearance, especially the look or expression of the face
• counterpart: a person or thing resembling or complementing another
• craven: cowardly
• credulity: willingness to behave or trust too readily
• cronyism: the practice of favoring one's friends, especially in political appointments
• cursory: hasty, superficial, as of a review of something

• dearth: an inadequate supply; scarcity; lack
• decorum: orderliness and good taste in manners
• deleterious: hurtful, morally or physically
• delineate: to represent by sketch or diagram
• depracity: the state of being morally bad or evil
• deride: to ridicule; to make fun of
• derision: ridicule
• derivative: something obtained from a source
• desultory: aimless; haphazard
• diatribe: bitter or malicious criticism
• didactic: pertainin to teaching
• dilatory: causing delay
• disconcert: to disturb the composure of
• discretion: the power to act according to one's own judgment
• disquiet: lack of calm, peace or ease
• dissemble: to disguise or pretend
• dissolution: breaking up of a union or of persons
• divest: to strip; to deprive
• divulge: to tell or make known, generally of something secret or private
• doldrums: a state of inactivity or low spirits
• dubious: doubtful
• dupe: someone easily fooled

• ebullient: showing great enthusiasm or exhilaration
• efficacy: power to produce an intended effect
• effrontery: shameless boldness
• egress: exit
• elegy: a poem lamenting the dead
• elicit: to extract without violence; to learn through discussion
• elitism: consciousness or pride in belonging to a select group