Latin Roots SPECT and VID/VIS: Look and See

Use spect (look) and vid/vis (see) to understand words about sight and observation.

Many academic words are about looking closely, and two Latin roots supply them. 'Spect' comes from 'specere', to look. To inspect is to look into something carefully. A spectator looks on at an event. Perspective is a way of looking through, a point of view. Retrospect means looking back. 'Vid' and 'vis' come from 'videre', to see. Visible means able to be seen; evidence is what makes something clear to see; to revise is to see again and improve; a vision is something seen, in the eye or the mind.

Try a sentence: 'In retrospect, the evidence was visible all along. ' Retro- (back) + spect (look): looking back. Evidence: what can be seen and shown. Visible: able to be seen. The writer is saying that, looking back, the proof was in plain sight. Notice how 'evidence', a key word in every English class, is secretly a seeing word.

• 1SPECT means look.
• 2VID and VIS mean see.
• 3Evidence, revise, perspective, and inspect all come from these roots.