How many greek and latin prefixes, roots, and suffixes exist?

Many words are formed by adding prefixes or suffixes to the beginning or end of the root of the word. The root of a word is usually not a stand-alone word. For example, the word "reject" is formed using the prefix "re" and the Latin root "ject" which is not the stand-alone word. It's similar to adding suffixes. There are indeed many Greek and Latin prefixes, roots and suffixes that are in everyday use and we are not even aware. For example, the Latin roots are: forms, multi, ambi, scribes, cent etc. Some of the Greek roots are: hetero, bio, gram, graph, pseudo etc. Then the prefixes: anti, de, over, semi, sub, trans, etc. Suffixes: able, ful, ing, ness, less, ed, etc. It is estimated that there are thousands of such prefixes, roots and suffixes.

There are several thousands of Greek and Latin prefixes that are in daily usage in the English language, which is added to the beginning of the word or the end of the word. However, these prefixes do not exist in a singular way. Latin roots are very common in the English language, and these words that are formed with these suffixes and prefixes are also termed as the root words.  

Further Explanation:

Affixes are a way to analyze the formation of a new word, by breaking the word into different parts and analyzing them correctly. This is very important in understanding the etymology of the word. The only difference between prefixes, roots and suffixes is determined by their terms of usage, with respect to the word. There is a particular need to analyze the etymology of Greek and Latin prefixes with their usage in English. It is of common observance that many words in the English vocabulary have Greek and Latin roots. This is because of a cultural amalgamation that was a part of a historical process that took place throughout many centuries of history.

It is important to have a basic command over Greek and Latin to correctly understand and analyze the etymology of English words. In this section, I shall list some common words that are formed using Greek and Latin roots. For example, if we consider the etymology ‘rhinoceros’ we understand it to be an animal that has a horn above its nose. The Greek word ‘rhin’ which means ‘nose’ has been used in combination with another word to become the name of the animal. Also, words are formed by transforming Latin and Greek words into English with the dropping of letters from the actual word.  

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Answer Details:

Grade: High School

Chapter: The use of prefix and suffix.

Subject: English.

Keywords:

Prefixes, suffix, roots, Greek, Latin, analysis of word formation, the etymology of words, vocabulary.