Word parts
Greek roots list: meanings and example words
In short
This list has 26 Greek roots with their meanings, such as graph (write), phon (sound) and tele (far). Each links to a page of example words, 424 in all, most shown as word sums.
Greek roots are the building blocks of science and math words: photo, graph, therm, meter, bio. Unlike most Latin roots, many of them are full partners in a word, so two Greek roots often join with nothing else: tele + phone, photo + graph. When the first part ends in a consonant, a connecting o usually joins them, as in therm + o + meter.
Greek words have spelling clues of their own. Ph spells /f/, ch can spell /k/, and y can sit in the middle of a word as a vowel. A student who spots those clues knows to look for Greek parts.
Start with graph, phon, photo and tele. They come up early, they combine with each other, and they make the connecting vowel easy to see.
Greek roots and what they mean
| Part | Meaning | Origin | Sample words | Words |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| archalso archy | rule, or chief | Greek | monarch, monarchs, monarchy, monarchies | 16 |
| astralso aster, astro | star | Greek | disaster, disasters, disastrous, disastrously | 16 |
| auto | self | Greek | autograph, automobile, autopilot, autobiography | 16 |
| bio | life | Greek | autobiography, biography, biographer, biology | 14 |
| chron | time | Greek | chronic, chronically, chronology, chronologies | 15 |
| cratalso cracy | rule, or power | Greek | democracy, democracies, democratic, undemocratic | 15 |
| cyclalso cycle | circle, or wheel | Greek | recycle, recycles, recycled, recycling | 18 |
| demalso demo | people | Greek | democracy, democracies, democratic, undemocratic | 12 |
| geo | earth | Greek | geography, geographer, geographic, geology | 15 |
| gram | something written or drawn | Greek | telegram, telegrams, monogram, monograms | 17 |
| graphalso graphy | write, or draw | Greek | graph, graphs, graphic, graphics | 29 |
| hydr | water | Greek | hydrant, hydrants, hydroplane, hydroelectric | 13 |
| loguealso log, logy | word, or speech | Greek | monologue, monologues, prologue, prologues | 18 |
| logyalso log | the study of | Greek | biology, biological, geology, geologist | 28 |
| meteralso metr, metry | measure | Greek | geometry, geometric, metric, micrometer | 25 |
| micro | very small | Greek | microscope, microscopes, microscopic, microphone | 14 |
| monoalso mon | one, or alone | Greek | monarch, monarchs, monarchy, monarchies | 18 |
| morph | shape, or form | Greek | morphs, morphed, morphing, morphology | 14 |
| nymalso onym | name, or word | Greek | synonym, synonyms, synonymous, synonymously | 13 |
| pathalso pathy | feeling, or suffering | Greek | sympathy, sympathies, telepathy, telepathic | 13 |
| phonalso phone | sound | Greek | phone, phonics, headphones, telephone | 17 |
| photo | light | Greek | photograph, photographs, photographer, photography | 13 |
| poly | many | Greek | polymorph, polymorphic, polygraph, polygraphs | 14 |
| scope | a tool for looking; look at | Greek | telescope, telescopes, telescopic, microscope | 12 |
| tele | far, or far away | Greek | telephone, telegraph, telephoto, television | 17 |
| therm | heat | Greek | thermal, geothermal, thermometer, hydrothermal | 12 |
Word parts lessons, ready to teach
In Literacy Trail, each word parts lesson has words to read, build, split and spell, with full-screen players for the student. Every plan starts with a 15-day free trial.