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[Meaning in Context] [Word Form] [College Life]
[Movies]
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Word Form |
Learning English words is very fun because you can
divide a word into several parts and you’ll find that
you have already been familiar with one or two parts. So
a long word shouldn’t be difficult to remember.
“Intimidate” is such an example. It originally comes
from “timid”. The word you have known since high school
particularly if you are interested in reading simplified
English novels or short stories. You’ll read “timid”
several times in novels of adventure. We know that Tom
Sawyer was certainly not a timid boy since he was such a
curious and courageous boy loving to explore and take
adventure. Although “in” in most cases carries negative
meaning like insecure (缺乏安全感的),
insensible (無知覺的),
inseparable (不可分離的);
however, “in” also implies “to intensify” (加強;
強調)
like integrate, intense, intensive, interact, etc. When
“ate” is placed at the very end of a word, you know the
word is used as a verb like accommodate (提供),
articulate (說話清楚),
liberate (解放),
originate(起源於).
To put the three parts in-timid-ate together, you know
immediately it means “to make someone very very timid” (威嚇;欺負).
You see, you don’t look up dictionary at all. But it
offers you good chance to review words you’ve already
familiar with. Normally, the root of a word or its
prefix and suffix contains special meaning. For
instance, the root “dict” means “to say”, “tell”, or
“speak”. So dictate means say aloud so that
someone can write or type it
聽寫or
order someone to do something
命令;
指示
and a dictator is a ruler who has absolute
authority to order people to do things
獨裁者;
diction means choice and use of words
措辭;
dictionary thus becomes a book listing and
explaining words. Contradict means say opposite
things反駁;
predict means say in advance something will
happen
預言and
verdict means words said at court that someone is
guilty or not guilty
判決.
Moreover, if a root is followed by a prefix or suffix,
the new word becomes much easier for you to remember and
use. Predict is such an example. The word is made
by “pre” means “before” and “dict” means “say”. Saying
something before it happens is exactly “predict” means.
Another example for prefix is “over”. “Over” means “too
much”. Therefore, overcook means being cooked too
much
煮爛;
oversleep means sleeping too much
睡過頭;
overhear means hear more than you should know
偷聽到,
無意中聽到;
overdue means something is due for long time超過截止期限,
etc. On the other hand, “under” means “too little” or
“beneath”. For instance, understaffed means not enough
staff
人手不夠;
underground and underwear are the other such examples.
Suffix is the part followed at the end of a word. You
must know it in your high school grammar which calls it
詞類變化
like act as verb, action as noun,
active as adjective; they all refer to the same idea
of “doing”. However, some suffixes have special
meanings. For instance, “log”, or “logy” means science,
or a study of knowledge like archaeology
考古學,
astrology占星學,
theology神學
cardiology心臟學;
“ant” means “some thing” like chemical formula
deodorant
除臭劑or
antiperspirant
排汗劑.
Interestingly, you may find that deodorant is
made by three parts: de-odor-ant; de(prefix)
means without, odor (root) means bad
smell, and ant chemical formula. Putting
three together, it shouldn’t difficult for you to
remember and use the word. Likewise, antiperspirant is
made by anti (against反抗),
perspire(sweat汗)and
ant.
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To conclude, it won’t be necessary for you memorize the
meanings of prefix, root, or suffix. The tip is to
analyze the structure of words each time when you are
encountering complicated words in your reading.
Meanwhile, don’t remember words by alphabets, namely,
treating the alphabets individually and unable to
recognize relationships of parts in the word. At the
beginning, you may seek help from some specialized
dictionary to consult the meaning. However, after you
use this skill frequently, their meanings will become
familiar to you. After all, there are not many meanings
of prefixes, roots or suffixes compared with meanings of
words. However, there are dictionaries like Dictionary
of English Roots英文字根辭典.
They are useful reference tools for beginners. The
following word parts are frequently used in your
readings. Bear them in mind can make your reading more
joyful. |
|
Prefix |
Meaning |
Examples |
over
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too much |
overcook, overhear, oversleep |
un |
too little, beneath |
underground, underwear
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ex |
out |
exotic, exit, exterior |
en |
to put into or to cover |
endangered species, enclose,
engrave |
em |
to put into or to cover but followed by b or p |
embrace, embark, embed |
uni |
one or single |
unique, uniform |
bi |
two |
bilingual, bicycly |
tri |
three |
trinity, triplets
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in |
inside, into |
install, influence, inherit,
inform, intimate, imitate |
in |
intensify |
inflame, intimidate,
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in |
not |
inflexible, invalid
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il |
not |
illegal, illogical, illiterate |
im |
not |
immature, impatient,
|
ir |
not |
irresponsible, irrational,
irregular |
ante |
in front of,
before |
antecedent, anticipate |
pro, pre |
before,
forward |
prologue
序言;
proceed, prophecy, prognosis
癌症篩檢,
prenatal產前 |
post |
after |
postpone,
postnatal
產後 |
de |
without |
deprive, deduct, depart, descend, deodorize
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dis |
not |
disorder, disgrace,
discharge, disapprove |
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|
Root |
Meaning |
Examples |
Dic/dict |
say, words |
dictact, dictator, diction, dictionary,
contradict, indicate, predict, verdict |
spec |
observe,
watch |
inspect, introspective, expect, suspect |
scop |
observe, look
at |
telescope, microscope,
horoscope, stethoscope |
pater/patri |
father |
patriarch, paternity,
patronize, patriotic |
mater/matri |
mother |
matriarch, maternity,
maternal |
juv |
young |
juvenile, rejuvenate |
ven/vent |
traditional,
usual, to come
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conventional傳統的,
prevent, intervene, revenue, inventory,
convention會議 |
fic/fice |
to do, to
make |
sufficient, beneficial, deficit, proficient,
specification |
vers/vert |
to turn |
controversy, introvert,
extrovert, versus |
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Suffix |
Meaning |
Examples |
ent/ant |
someone or something |
resident, restaurant,
accountant, vacant |
ship |
a particular position or talent |
citizenship, ownership, membership, readership,
fellowship, scholarship |
ist |
person |
scientist, pianist, racist,
novelist |
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