Word part · Greek root
Dem root words: meaning and 12 examples
In short
The Greek root dem (from Greek) means "people". It is also spelled demo. Words with it include democracy, democracies, democratic, undemocratic, democratically and demographic. Usually spelled demo before another Greek part: democracy, demographic.
- Part
- dem
- Meaning
- people
- Origin
- Greek
- Also spelled
- demo
- Words listed
- 12
Usually spelled demo before another Greek part: democracy, demographic. It often pairs with cracy, which means rule.
Words with the Greek root dem
The list runs from shorter, common words to longer ones. The bands are a rough guide built from syllable count and how common each word is in our word list, not a grade-level standard. Read each word, then its word sum.
Colors:prefixroot or basesuffix
Next: longer words (about grades 5 and 6)
| Word | Word sum | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| democratic | demo (root or base)+crat (root or base)+ic (suffix)→democratic | run by the people, or fair to everyone who votes |
More words: pandemic, endemic
Stretch: long or less common words (about grades 7 and 8)
| Word | Word sum | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| democracy | demo (root or base)+cracy (root or base)→democracy | a government where the people rule by voting |
| democracies | demo (root or base)+cracy (root or base)+es (suffix)→democracieschange y to i | more than one democracy |
| undemocratic | un (prefix)+demo (root or base)+crat (root or base)+ic (suffix)→undemocratic | not run by the people or their votes |
| democratically | demo (root or base)+crat (root or base)+ic (suffix)+al (suffix)+ly (suffix)→democratically | in a way where the people decide by voting |
| demographic | demo (root or base)+graph (root or base)+ic (suffix)→demographic | having to do with facts about groups of people |
| demographics | demo (root or base)+graph (root or base)+ic (suffix)+s (suffix)→demographics | facts about a group of people, such as their ages and where they live |
| demographer | demo (root or base)+graph (root or base)+er (suffix)→demographer | a person who studies facts about groups of people |
More words: epidemic, epidemics
Where does dem sit in a word?
A root can come first, last or in the middle. Students who only look at the start of a word miss half of these.
- At the start:
- democracy, democracies, democratic, democratically, demographic, demographics, demographer
- In the middle:
- undemocratic
How do you teach the root dem?
Teach dem alongside a civics or history unit, where democracy comes up anyway. Write democracy as demo + cracy and give both meanings: people and rule. The student puts them together: rule by the people. From there, demographic is easy if you name graph, which the student may know from graph paper. It means writing about people. Keep the list short at first. Five words a student can explain beat fifteen they can only read.
A quick routine
Say, "Dem means people, so when you see dem, ask which people." Show democratic. The student answers that it means the voters. Show demographics, and the student names the people who live in a place. Show epidemic and say, "An epidemic spreads among the people of one area." Then flip it. Give a meaning, such as facts about groups of people, and the student finds the word on the board.
What do students mix up with dem?
Demand, demonstrate, demolish and demon all start with d-e-m, and none of them mean people. In demand and demonstrate, de is a Latin prefix and the rest is another part. A quick test: if you can't fit the word people into the meaning, it isn't this root. Students also mix up epidemic and pandemic. An epidemic spreads through one area, and a pandemic reaches much of the world.
Some of these words change spelling where the parts join. The spelling rules pages cover dropping e, doubling and changing y to i. For the sounds inside these words, see the phonics word lists. Routines that fit: meanings of prefixes and suffixes, circle the parts, read the base and flexible routine for big words.
Questions people ask
What does the root dem mean?
Dem means "people". It is a Greek root, also spelled demo. Usually spelled demo before another Greek part: democracy, demographic. It often pairs with cracy, which means rule.
What are some words with the root dem?
Start with democratic, pandemic and endemic. Then move to democracy and democracies. This page lists 12 words in all, most with a word sum that shows the parts.
Does demo, as in a product demo, come from dem?
No. A demo is short for demonstration, from a Latin word meaning to show. It is spelled the same as the demo in democracy, which is why it fools students. Check the meaning: a demo shows something, and it has nothing to do with people.
Related word parts
- cratrule, or power
- graphwrite, or draw
- archrule, or chief
- un-not, or the opposite of
- -ichaving to do with, or like
Terms on this page: morpheme, root, prefix, suffix, base word, word sum, morphology.
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