Glossary
word root
A word root is the part of a word carrying its core meaning, with prefixes and suffixes built onto it. Most English roots come from Latin or Greek, and one root usually builds a whole family.
A word root is the piece of a word that carries its core meaning, and it is the part prefixes and suffixes are attached to. Most of them arrived in English from Latin or Greek, which is why one root reappears across words that look unrelated until you notice it: -dict- (say) gives predict, contradict and verdict; -port- (carry) gives transport, import and portable.
A short root list goes a long way. -dict- (say), -script- and -scrib- (write), -spect- (look), -port- (carry), -ject- (throw), -luc- and -lum- (light), -cred- (believe), -voc- (call), -ten- and -tain- (hold), -graph- (write), -phon- (sound), -bio- (life), -geo- (earth).
Roots are a study tool, not a machine. A root gives you the direction of a word rather than its exact meaning, and it only helps when you can attach the sense to a word you can use in a sentence. There are also cases where splitting a word is a trap: letters that look like a root may not be one, and English words that grew from the same root can end up with very different shades of meaning.
Taught in
Related terms
- prefix — A prefix is a word part added to the front of a root that changes its meaning — un-, re-, pre-, sub- and trans- among them. Learning a few unlocks dozens of words.
- suffix — A suffix is a word part added to the end of a root. It can change the meaning and, unlike a prefix, it usually changes the word's part of speech.
Source: Official ASVAB — subtest descriptions (what each subtest asks) and the CAT-ASVAB scored-question counts (accessed 2026-09)