BENE is Latin for "well". A benefit? is a good result or effect. Something beneficial produces good results or effects. The Latin root can be heard in other languages as well: "Good!" or "Fine!" in Spanish is "Bueno!"; in French, it's "Bon!"; and in Italian, just say "Bene!".

e.g. benediction, benefactor, benevolence

AM comes from the Latin amare, "to love." The Roman god of love was known by two different names, Cupid and Amor.?Amiable means "friendly or good-natured", and amigo is Spanish for "friend."

e.g. amicable, enamored, amorous, paramour

BELL comes from the Latin word meaning "war." Bellona was the little-known Roman goddess of war; her husband, Mars, was the god of war.

e.g. antebellum, bellicose, belligenrence, rebellion

PAC is related to the Latin words for "agree" and "peace." The Pacific Ocean - that is, the "Peaceful Ocean" - was named by Ferdinand Magellan because it seemed so calm after he had sailed through the storms near Cape Horn. (Magellan obviously had never witnessed a Pacific typhoon.)

e.g. pacify, pacifist, pact

CRIM comes from the Latin words for "fault or crime" or "accusation." It's obvious where the root shows up most commonly in English. A crime is an act forbidden by the government, which the government itself will punish you for, and for which you may be branded a criminal. A crime is usually more serious than a tort, a "civil wrong" for which the wronged person must himself sue if he wants to get rapaid in some way.

e.g. criminology, decriminalize, incriminate, recrimination

PROB comes from the Latin words for "prove or proof" and "honesty or integrity." A probe, whether it's a little object for testing elecrtical circuits or a spacecraft headed for Mars, is basically something that's looking for evidence or proof. And probable originally described something that wasn't certain but might be "provable."

e.g. approbation, probate, probity, reprobate

GRAV comes from the Latin word meaning "heavy, weighty, serious." Gravity is, of course, what makes things heavy, and without it there wouldn't be any life on earth, since nothing would stay on earth at all. This doesn't stop us from yelling in outrage when the familiar laws of gravity cause something to drop to the floor and break.

e.g. grave, gravitas, gravitate, aggravate

LEV comes from the Latin adjective levis, meaning "light," and the verb levare, meaning "to raise or lighten." So a lever is a bar used to lift something, by means of leverage. And levitation is the magician's trick in which a body seems to rise into the air by itself.

e.g. alleviate, elevation, cantilever, levity

MANIA in Latin means "madness," and the meaning passed over into English unchanged. Our word mania can mean a mental illness, or at least an excessive enthusiasm. We might call someone a maniac who was wild, violent, and mentally ill - or maybe just really enthusiastic about something. Too much caffeine might make you a bit manic. But the intense mood swings once known as manic-depressive illness are now usually called bipolar disorder instead.?

e.g. kleptomania, dipsomaniac, megalomaniac, egomaniac

PSYCH comes from the Greek word psyche, meaning "breath, life, soul." Psychology is the science of mind and behavior, and a psychologist treats or studies the mental problems of individuals and groups. Psychiatry is a branch of medicine that deals with mental and emotional disorders, and a psychiatrist (like any ohter doctor) may prescribe drugs to treat them.

e.g. psychedelic, psychosomatic, psychotherapist

CEPT comes from the Latin verb meaning "take, seize." Capture, which is what a captor has done to a captive, has the same meaning. Captivate once meant literally "capture," but now means only?to capture mentally through charm or appeal. But in some other English words this root produces, such as those below, its meaning is harder to find.?

e.g. reception, intercept, perceptible, susceptible

FIN comes from the Latin word for "end" or "boundary." Final describes last things, and a finale or a finish is an ending. (And at the end of a French film, you may just see the word "Fin.") But its meaning is harder to trace in some of the other English words derived from it.

e.g. confine, definitive, finite, infinitesimal

JECT comes from jacere, the Latin verb meaning "throw" or "hurl." To reject something is to throw (or push) it back; to eject something is to throw (or drive) it out; and to inject something is to throw (or squirt) it into something else.

e.g. interject, conjecture, projection, trajectory

TRACT comes from trahere, the Latin verb meaning "drag or draw." Something attractive draws us towards it. Something distracting pulls your attention away. And when you extract something from behind the sofa, you drag it out.

e.g. traction, retract, protracted, intractable

DUC/DUCT, from the Latin verb ducere, "to lead," shows up regularly in English. Duke means basically "leader." The Italian dictator Mussolini was known simply as Il Duce, "the leader." But such words as produce and reduce also contain the root, even though their meanings show it less clearly.

e.g. conducive, deduction, induce, seduction

SEQU comes from the Latin verb sequi, meaning "to follow." A sequel follows the original novel, film, or television show.

e.g. sequential, subsequent, consequential, non sequitur

AMBI means "on both sides" or "around"; ambi- comes from Latin. Most of us are either right-handed or left-handed, but ambidextrous people can use their right and left hand equally well.

e.g. ambiguous, ambient, ambivalent, ambit

EPI is a Greek prefix that may mean various things, but usually "on, over" or "attached to." So an earthquake's epicenter is the ground right over the center of the quake. And your epidermis is the outer layer of your skin, on top of the inner dermis.

e.g. epilogue, epiphyte, epitaph, epithet

HYP/HYPO is a Greek prefix meaning "below, under." Many hypo- words are medical. A hypodermic needle injects medication under the skin. Hypotension, or low blood pressure, can be just as unhealthy as the better-known hypertension, or high blood pressure.

e.g. hypochondriac, hypoglycemia, hypothermia, hypothetical

THERM/THERMO comes from the Greek word meaning "warm." A thermometer measures the amount of warmth in a body, the air, or an oven. A thermostat makes sure the?temperature stays at the same level. And it's easy to see why the German manufacturers of a vacuum-insulated bottle back in 1904 gave it the name Thermos.

e.g. thermal, thermodynamics, thermonuclear, British thermal unit

POLY comes from polys, the Greek word for "many." A polytechnic institute offers instruction in many technical fields. Polygamy is marriage in which one has many spouses, or at least more than the legal limit of one. And polysyllabic words are words of many syllables - of which there are quite a few here.

e.g. polyp, polyglot, polymer, polygraph

PRIM comes from primus, the Latin word for "first." Something primary is first in time, rank, or importance. Something primitive is in its first stage of development. And something primeval had its origin in the first period of world or human history.

e.g. primal, primer, primate, primordial

HOM/HOMO comes from homos, the Greek word for "same," which in English words may also mean "similar." A homograph is a word spelled like another word but different in meaning or pronunciation, and a homosexual is a person who favors others of the same sex. (This root has nothing to do with the Latin homo, meaning "person," as in Homo sapiens, the French homme, and the Spanish hombre.)

e.g. homonym, homogeneous, homologous, homogenize

DIS comes from Latin, where it means "apart." In English, its meanings have increased to include "opposite" or "not" (as in distaste, disagreeable), "deprive of"? (disinfect), or "exclude or expel from" (disbar). The original meaning can still be seen in a word like dissipate, which means "to break up and scatter."

?e.g. dissuage, disorient, discredit, dislodge

VOR comes from the Latin verb vorare, "to eat," and the ending -ivorous shows up in words that refer to eaters of certain kinds of food. Frugivorous (for "fruit-eating"), granivorous (for "grain-eating"), and graminivorous (for "grass-eating") aren't too rare, but you won't run across phytosuccivorous ("plant-sap-earting") every day.

e.g. carnivorous, herbivorous, insectivorous, voracious

CARN comes from a Latin word meaning "flesh" or "meat." Carnation originally mean?"the color of flesh," which was once the only color the flower we call the carnation. In Christian countries, Lent is the period when the faithful traditionally give up something they love, often meat. The days leading up to Lent are known as the carnival season, from the Italian carnelevare, later shortened to carnevale, which meant "removal of meat" - though during carnival, of course, people indulge in just about everything, and the remoaval of meat only comes later.

e.g. carnage, carnal, incarnate, reincarnation

CRED comes from credere, the Latin verb meaning "to believe" or "to entrust." We have a good credit rating when institutions trust in our ability to repay a loan, and we carry credentials so that others will believe that we are who we say we are.

e.g. credence, credilble, credulity, credo

FID comes from fides, the Latin word for "faith" or "trust." Fidelity is another word for "faithfulness." Confidence is having faith in someone or something. An infidel is someone who lacks a particular kind of religious faith. And the once-popular dog's name Fido is Latin for "I trust."

e.g. affidavit, diffident, fiduciary, perfidy

CURR/CURS comes from currere, the Latin verb meaning "to run." Although words based on this root don't tend to suggest speed, the sense of movement ramains. Current, for instance, refers to running water in a stream?or river, or?electrons running through a wire and an excursion is a trip from one place to another.

e.g. concurrent, cursory, diacursive, precursor

PED comes from the Latin word for "foot." A pedal is pushed by the foot; a pedicure is a treatment of the feet, toes, and toenails; and a pedestal is what a statue stands on - in a sense, its foot.

e.g. quadruped, pedigree, inpediment, pedestrian

FLECT comes from flectere, the Latin verb meaning "to bend." The root sometimes take the form flex-. Things that are flexible can be bent, and when you flex a muscle, you're usually bending a limb - which, as a trainer at the gym will tell you, requires the use of flexor muscles.

e.g. deflect, reflective, genuflect, inflection

POST comes from a Latin word meaning "after" or "behind." A postscript (or PS) is a note that comes after an otherwise completed letter, usually as an afterthought. Postpartum refers to the period following childbirth, with any related events and complications. To postdate a check is to give it a date after the day it was written.

e.g. posterior, posthumous, postmodern, postmortem

MAL comes from a Latin word meaning "bad." A malady is a bad condition - a disease or illness - of the body or mind. Malpractice is bad medical practice. Malodorous things smell bad. And a malefactor is someone guilty fo bad deeds.

e.g. malevolent, malicious, malign, malnourished

CATA comes from the Greek kata, one of whose meanings was "down." A catalogue is a list of items put down on paper, and a catapult is a weapon for hurling missiles down on one's enemies.

e.g. cataclysm, catacomb, catalyst, catatonic

PROT/PROTO comes from Greek and has the basic meaning "first in time" or "first formed." Protozoa are one-celled animals, such as amoebas and paramecia, that are among the most basic members of the biological kingdom. A proton is an elementary particle that, along with neutrons, can be found in all atomic nuclei. A protoplanet is a whirling mass of gas and dust that astronomers believe may someday become a planet.

e.g. protagonist, protocol, protoplasm, prototype

ANTE is Latin word for "before" or "in front of." Antediluvian, which describe something very old or outdated, literally means "before the flood" - that is, Noah's Flood. And antebellum literally means "before the war," usually the American Civil War.

e.g. antechamber, antedate,antecedent, anterior

ORTHO comes from orthos, the Greek word for "straight," "right," or "true." Orthotics is a branch of therapy that straighten out your stance or posture by providing artificial support for weak joints or muscles. And orthograde animals, such as human beings, wakl with their bodies in a "straight" or vertical position.

e.g. orthodontics, orthodox, orthopedics, orthography

RECT comes from the Latin word rectus, which means "straight" or "right." To correct something is to make it right. A rectangle is a four-sided figure with straight parallel sides. Rectus, short for Latin rectus musculus, may refer to any of several straight muscles, such as those of the abdomen.

e.g. rectitude, rectify, rectiliear, directive

EU comes from the Greek word for "well"; in English words it can also mean "good" or "true." A veterinarian who performs euthanasia is providing a very sick or hopelessly injured animal a "good" or easy death.

e.g. eugenic, euphemism, euphoria, eulogy

DYS comes from Greek, where it means "bad" or?"difficult." So dysphagia is difficult swallowing, and dyspnea is difficult or labored breathing. Dysphasia is an inability to use and understand language because of injury to or disease of the brain. Dys- is someimes close in meaning to dis-, but try not to confuse the two.

e.g. dystopia, dyslexia, dyspeptic, dysplasia

EQU comes from the Latin word aequus, meaning "equal." To equalize means to make things equal. Things that are equivalent have the same value, use or meaning. All three sides of an equilateral triangle are of the same length. And an equation is a statement that two mathematical expressions are equal.

e.g. equable, adequacy, equilibrium, equinox

QUIS is derived form the Latin verb meaning "to seek or obtain." The roots quer, quir, and ques are derived from the same Latin verb and give us words such as inquiry and question.

e.g. inquisition, perquisite, acquisitive, requisition

PLE/PLEN comes from a Latin word meaning "to fill." It can be seen in the words plenty, meaning basically "filled," and complete, meaning "thoroughly filled."

e.g. plenary, complement, deplete, replete

METR/METER comes to us from Greek by way of Latin; in both languages it refers to "measure." A thermometer measures heat; a perimeter is the measure around something; and things that are isometric are equal in measure.

e.g. metric, meter, odometer, tachometer

AUD, from the Latin verb audire, is the root that has to do with hearing. What is audible can be heard. An audience is a group of listeners, sometimes seated in an auditorium. And audio today can mean almost anything that has to do with sound.?

e.g. auditor, auditory, audition, inaudible

SON is the Latin root meaning "sound." Sonata, meaning a piece for one or two instruments, was originally an Italian verb meaning "sounded" (when singers were involved, the Italians used a different verb). And sonorous means full, loud, or rich in sound.

e.g. sonic, dissonant, resonance, ultrasonic

ERR, from the Latin verb errare, means "to wander" or "to stray." The root is seen in the word error, meaning a wandering or straying from what is correct or true. Erratum (plural, errata) is Latin for "mistake"; so an errata page is a book page that lists mistakes found too late to correct before the book's publication.

e.g. errant, aberrant, erratic, erroneous

CED comes from the Latin verb cedere, meaning "to proceed" or "to yield." Proceed itself employs the root, as does recede, and their related nouns procession and recession employ another form of the Latin verb.?

e.g. cede, concede, accede, precedent

VIS comes from a Latin verb meaning "see." Vision is what enables us to see, visual images are visible to our eyes, and a visitor is someone who comes to see something. The same verb actually gives us another root, vid-, as in Julius Caesar's famous statement about his military exploits, "Veni, vidi, vici" ("I came, I saw, I conquered"), and such common English words as video.

e.g. vista, visionary, envisage

SPECT comes from the Latin verb specere, meaning "to look at," and produces several familiar English words. Spectacles can be glasses that you look through; but a spectacle can also be a remarkable sight - in Roman times, perhaps a spectacular chariot race or a spectacularly bloody battle between gladiators and wild beasts, mounted for the pleasure of its spectators.

e.g. aspect, prospect, perspective, prospectus

VOC comes from the Latin words meaning "voice" and "speak." So a vocal ensemble is a singing group. A vocation was originally a "calling" from God to do religious work as a priest, monk, or nun, though today most people use the word just to mean a career. And a vocabulary is a set of words for speaking.

e.g. equivocate, irrevocable, advocate, vociferous

PHON is a Greek root meaning "sound," "voice," or "speech." It's probably most familiar in the form of the English suffix -phone, in words that begin with a Greek or Latin root as well. Thus, the tele- in telephone means "far", the micro- in microphone means "small," the xylo- in xylophone means "wood," and so on.?

e.g. phonics, phonetic, polyphonic, cacophony

CUR, from the Latin verb curare, means basically "care for." Our verb cure comes from this root, as do manicure ("care of the hands") and pedicure ("care of the feet").

e.g. curative, curator, procure, sinecure

PERI, in both Latin and Greek, means "around." A period is often a span of time that keeps coming around regularly, day after day or year after year. With a periscope, you can see around corners. Peristalsis is the process that moves food around the intestines; without it, digestion would grind to a halt.

e.g. perimeter, peridontal, peripatetic, peripheral

SENS?comes from the Latin noun sensus, meaning "feeling" or "sense." Sense itself obviously comes straight from the Latin. A sensation is something you sense. And if you're sensitive, you feel or sense things sharply, maybe even too sharply.

e.g. sensor, desensitize, extrasensory, sensuous

SOPH comes from the Greek words meaning "wise" and "wisdom." In English the root sometimes appears in words where the wisdom is of the "wise guy" variety, but in words such as philosophy we see it used more respectfully.

e.g. sophistry, sophisticated, sophomoric, theosophy

PORT comes from the Latin verb portare, meaning "to carry." Thus, something portable can?be carried around. A porter carries your luggage, whether through a train station or high into the Himalayas. When we transport something, we have it carried from one place to another. And goods for export are carried away to another country.

e.g. portage, portfolio, comport, deportment

PEND comes from the Latin verb pendere, meaning "to hang" or "to weigh." (In the Roman era, weighing something large often required hanging it from a hook on one side of the balance scales.) We find the root in English words like appendix, referring to that useless and sometimes troublesome tube that hangs from the intestine, or that section at the back of some books that might contain some useful addtitional information.

e.g. pendant, append, appendage, suspend

PAN comes from a Greek word meaning?"all";?as an English prefix, it can slao mean "completely," "whole," or "general." A panoramic view is a complete view in every direction. A pantheon is a temple dedicated to all the gods of a religion. A pandemic outbreak of a disease may not affect the emtire human population, but enough to produce a catastrophe.

e.g. panacea, pandemonium, pantheism, panoply

EXTRA is Latin for "outside" or "beyond." So anything extraterrestrial or extragalactic takes place beyond the earth or the galaxy. Something extravagant, such as an extravaganza, goes way beyond the normal. And extra is naturally a word itself, a shortening of? extraordinary, "beyond the ordinary."

e.g. extradite, extrapolate, extrovert, extraneous

PHOT comes from the Greek word for "light." Photography uses light to create an image on film or paper, and a photocopy is an image made by using light and tiny electrically charged ink particles.

e.g. photoelectric, photovoltaic, photon, photosynthesis

LUC comes from the Latin noun lux, "light," and the verb lucere, "to shine or glitter." In ancient Rome, Lucifer, meaning "Light-bearer," was the name given?to the morning star, but the name was eventually transferred by Christians to Satan. This tradition, which dates back to the period before Christ, said that Lucifer had once been among the angels but had wanted to be the great light in the sky, and for his pride had been cast out of heaven and thus became the opponent of everything good.

e.g. lucid, elucidate, lucubration, translucent

MOR/MORT comes from Latin words meaning "to die" and "death." A mortuary is a place where dead bodies are kept until burial, and a postmortem examination is one conducted on a recently dead body. Tha Latin phrase "Memento mori" means "Remember that you must die"; so a memento mori is the name we give to a reminder of death; the skulls you can find carved on gravestones in old cemeteries are examples.

e.g. mortality, moribund, amortize, mortify

TROPH comes from the Greek trophe, meaning "nourishment." This particular troph- root doesn't show up in many everyday English words (the troph- in words like trophy, apostrophe, and catastrophe has a different meaning), but instead tends to appear in scientific terms.

e.g. atrophy, hypertrophy, dystrophy, eutrophication

HER comes from the Latin verb haerere, meaning "to stick." Another form of the verb produces the root hes-, seen in such words as adhesive, which means basically "sticky" or "sticking," and hesitate, which means more or less "stuck in one place."

e.g. adherent, cohere, incoherent, inherent

FUG comes from the Latin verb fugere, meaning "to flee or escape." Thus, a refugee fless from some threat or danger, while a fugitive is usyally fleeing from the law.

e.g. centrigufal, refuge, fugue, subterfuge

HEMI/SEMI means "half."?Hemi-?comes from Greek,?semi-?from Latin. A?hemisphere?is half a sphere, and a?semicircle?is half a circle. (The French prefix?demi-, which probably developed from Latin as well, also means "half" - as in?demitasse, a little after-dinner coffee cup half the size of a regualr cup.)

e.g. semitone, semicolon, hemiplegia, semiconductor

SUB means "under." So a?subway?runs under the streets, and a?submarine?moves under the ocean's surface. A?subject?is a person under the authority of another. A movie's?subplot?is lower in importance than the main plot.?Subscribe?once meant "to write one's name underneath," so?subscription?was the act of signing a document or agreement.

e.g. subconscious, subjugate, subliminal, subversion

PRE, one of the most common of all English?prefixes, comes from?prae, the Latin word meaning "before" or "in front of." So a?prediction?forecasts what will happen before it occurs. The 5:00 TV news?precedes?the 6:00 news. And someone with a?prejudice?against a class of people has judged them before having even met them.

e.g. preclude, precocious, predispose, prerequisite

DE in Latin means "down, away." So a?descent?is a downward slope or climb, and a?decline?is a downward slide (of health, income, etc.). To?devalue?something is to take value away from it. And you might descirbe a?depressed?friend as "down."

e.g. debase, defamation, degenarative, dejection

MINI/MINU come from Latin words meaning "small" and "least." So the?minimum?is the least, and a?minute?amount is almost nothing. And?mini-?is all too familiar as a prefix that we've been applying to all kinds of things since the 1950s:?minivan, miniskirt, mini-mart, minipark, and the rest.

e.g. minimalism, minuscule, minutiae, diminutive

BIO comes from the Greek word for "life," and forms the base for many English words.?Biology, for instance, is the study of living forms and life processes; the?biosphere?is the entire area of and above the earth where life can exist; and?biotechnology?is the use of living organisms to create useful products.

e.g. bionic, biopsy, biodegradable, symbiosis

ANT/ANTI is a Latin prefix meaning "against." An?anticlimax?is the opposite of a climax. An?antiseptic?or?antibiotic?fights germs. An?antacid?attacks acid in the stomach. And an?antidote?works against the effects of a poison.

e.g. antagonist, antigen, antipathy, antithesis

KILO is the French version of the Greek word?chilioi, meaning "thousand." France is also where the metric system originated, in the years following the French Revolution. So in English,?kilo-?shows up chiefly in mertic-system units. Before the computer age, the most familiar?kilo-?words for English-speakers were probably?kilowatt, meaning "1,000 watts," and?kilowatt-hour, meaning the amount of energy equal to one kilowatt over the course of an hour.

e.g. kilobyte, kilohertz, kilometer, kilogram

MICRO, from the Greek?mikros, meaning "small," is a popular English prefix. A?microscope?lets the eye see?microscopic?objects, and libraries store the pages of old newspapers on?microfilm?at 1/400th of their original size. And we continue to attach micro- to lots of familiar words; most of us could figure out the meaning of?microbus?and?microquake?without ever having heard them before. Scientists often use?micro-?to mean "millionth"; thus, a?microsecond?is a millionth of a second, and a?micrometer?is a millionth of a meter.

e.g. microbe, microbiologist, microbrew, microclimate

NUMER comes from the Latin words meaning "number" and "to count." A?numeral?is the symbol that represents a number.?Numerous?means "many," and?innumerable?means "countless."?Numerical?superiotity is superiority in numbers, and your numerical standing in?a class is a ranking expressed as a number.

e.g. numerology, supernumerary, enumerate, alphanumeric

SUPER, a Latin prefix meaning "over, higher, more than," has become one of the most familiar prefixes in English, one of those prefixes that we use to create new words all the time:?supermodel, superpowerful, superjock, supersize, supersweet?- the list goes on and on. This all seems to have started in 1903 when the playwright G.B. Shaw translated the German word?übermensch, Nietzsche's famous term for the person who rises to heroic height through discipline and creative power, in the title of his play Man and Superman. The comic-book character with the same name wouldn't make his appearance for another 30 years.

e.g. superfluous, insuperable, supersede, superlative

MULTI comes from the Latin word?multus, meaning "many." Thus, a?multicultural?society is one that includes people of several different countries, languages, and religions; a?multimedia?artwork uses two or more artistic media (dance, music, film, spoken text, etc.); and a?multitude?of complaints reaching your office would be a great many indeed.

e.g. multicellular,?multilateral, multifarious, multidisciplinary

RE is a prefix which, like?pro-, has more than one meaning. In this section, we'll focus on the meaning "again." We use?re-?words with this meaning every day -?redo, reheat, recheck, reread, resell, repaint, etx. - and we feel free to make up new ones as needed. But in plenty of other?re-?words, the meaning isn't so obvious.

e.g. remorse, reiterate, rejuvenate, reconcile

RE, in its other main sense, means "back" or "backward." Since doing something again means going back to it, the two senses are actually related; still, the meaning of?re-?in most words is pretty clearly one or the other. So a?rebound?comes back at you; to?recall?means to "call back" a memory; and to?react?is to "act back" at someone else's action.

e.g. reciprocal, rebut, revoke, regress

TECHNI/TECHNO comes from the Greek?techne, meaning "art, craft, skill," and shows up in dozens of English words. Some, such as?technical, technology, and technique, have long been familiar. Others, such as?thchno-thriller, were only coined in the current computer age, which has also seen the new cut-down terms?techno?(for?techno-pop, the electronic dance music) and?tech?(for technician or technology).

e.g. technocrat, technophobe, technophile, pyrotechnic

LONG comes from Latin?longus, which, as you might guess, means "long." The English word?long?shows up in many compound terms such as?long-suffering?("patiently enduring lasting offense or hardship") and?long-winded?("boringly long in speaking or writing"), but the?long-?root also sometimes shows up less obviously. To?prolong?something is to lengthen it, for example, and a?chaise longue?(not lounge!) is "a long reclining chair."

e.g. longitude, elongate, longueur, oblong

AER/AERO comes from the Greek word for "air." The?aerospace?industry manufactures vehicles that travel through the atmosphere and beyond into space.?Aerodynamic?designs move through the air with maximum speed. And?aerophobia?is the technical name for what we usually just call fear of flying.

e.g. aerial, aerate, aerobic, anerobic

INTER comes straight from Latin. In English it has various meanings; all of them can be expressed broadly as "between," but they are still quite distinct: "moving between" (intercity), "communicating between" (intercom), "coming between" (intercept), and so on. No wonder so many English words begin with?inter-.

e.g. intercede, interstice, interdict, interpolate

SUR is acturally a shortening of the Latin prefix?super-, meaning "over, above", and has the same meaning. A?surface?is the face above or on the outside of something. A?surplus?is something above or beyond what is needed. And to?survey?a landscape is to look out over it.

e.g. surmount, surcharge, surfeit, surreal

CO is a Latin prefix that generally means "with, together," and we see it daily in such words as?costar, cofounder, co-owner, and coworker. But many other co- words aren't quite so easy to understand when you first encounter them.

e.g. coalesce, cogeneration, codependency, cohesion