Greek and Latin Twins: Two Roots, One Meaning

Recognize Greek and Latin roots that mean the same thing, such as hydro and aqua.

English often has two roots for the same idea, one from Greek and one from Latin. Recognizing the pairs doubles your decoding power. Water: Greek 'hydro' (hydrant, dehydrate) and Latin 'aqua' (aquarium, aquatic). Earth: Greek 'geo' (geology) and Latin 'terra' (terrain, territory). Sound and hearing: Greek 'phon' (telephone) and Latin 'aud' (audio). See: Greek 'scope' (microscope) and Latin 'vid' or 'vis' (vision). Write: Greek 'graph' (autograph) and Latin 'scrib' (scribble).

Star: Greek 'aster' or 'astro' (astronaut, asterisk) and Latin 'stella' (constellation). Read: 'The aquatic plant grew in a hydroponic tank. ' Both words involve water: aquatic means living in water; hydroponic means growing plants in water instead of soil (ponos means work or labor). If you know one twin, you can often guess the other, which is especially handy when a science text uses Greek for one term and Latin for its neighbor.

• 1Greek and Latin often supply twin roots for one idea.
• 2Water: hydro / aqua. Earth: geo / terra. Hearing: phon / aud.
• 3Knowing one twin helps you guess words with the other.