Latin Roots RUPT and TRACT: Break and Pull

Learn rupt (break) and tract (pull or drag) and the action words built from them.

Some roots carry strong physical actions. 'Rupt' comes from 'rumpere', to break. An eruption is a breaking out, like lava from a volcano. To interrupt is to break into the middle of something (inter- means between). Bankrupt originally described a broken bench where a failed money-lender worked. Disrupt means to break apart, to throw into disorder. 'Tract' comes from 'trahere', to pull or drag. A tractor pulls heavy loads.

To attract is to pull toward; to distract is to pull attention away; to subtract is to pull a number out from under another; to retract is to pull back. Here is the payoff in reading: 'The loud alarm disrupted the class and distracted everyone from the test. ' Disrupted: broke apart the calm. Distracted: pulled attention away. Even if you had never seen either word, the roots plus the sentence give you the picture.

• 1RUPT means break.
• 2TRACT means pull or drag.
• 3Prefixes give direction: inter-, dis-, e-, at-, sub-, re-.