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How to Find the Suffixes & Root Meanings of Words

"When I use a word," says Humpty Dumpty in Lewis Carroll's "Through the Looking Glass," that word "means just what I choose it to mean -- neither more nor less." You might not have that artistic or synthetic license, however. When you're writing to make a point or to convey information, you want your words to mean what your dictionary says they mean -- neither more nor less. Knowing the suffixes and root meanings of the words you use in your writing will help you to do this.

Things You'll Need

  • Dictionary
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Instructions

    • 1

      Look up a word that interests you. For example, look up "despondency" in "The New Shorter Oxford English Dictionary" (see Resources).

    • 2

      Note the information contained in the square brackets following the word. For example, you note this after the word "despondency": "[f. as prec. + -ENCY.]."

    • 3

      Refer to the front of the dictionary for the meanings of any abbreviations you don't understand. For example, you refer to "Abbreviations and Symbols" at the front of the dictionary and find that f. means "from" and prec. means "preceding."

    • 4

      Follow the directions in the square brackets to identify the root form and meaning of the word. For example, the word preceding "despondency" is "despond," which is the root word of "despondency." Its meaning, "lose heart or hope," is the root meaning of "despondency."

    • 5

      Note the hyphenated word part preceded by a plus (+) sign within the square brackets. The hyphen indicates where the word part is joined to the word. A suffix always has its hyphen in front. For example, "+ -ENCY" means the suffix "ency" is added to the root word "despond" to make the noun form "despondency."

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