Four Latin roots describe people together. greg means “flock”: a congregation is a flock gathered together. am (also amic) means “love” or “friend”: an amateur does something for the love of it. cord means “heart”: to record once meant to learn by heart. sent (also sens) means “feel”: sense, sentiment, consent.
Key idea
greg = flock, herd. am, amic = love, friend. cord = heart. sent, sens = feel, think.
The greg words picture people as a flock. A gregarious person loves to be with the flock. To congregate is to flock together, and to segregate is to set apart from the flock (se-, apart). An aggregate is many things flocked together into one total.
The parts and their words
Words taken apart
| Word and meaning | Parts, and what they say |
|---|---|
| gregarious fond of company; sociable | greg flock + -arious → “of the flock (sociable)” |
| segregate to set apart from others | se- apart + greg flock + -ate → “set apart from the flock” |
| egregious outstandingly bad; shocking | e- out + greg flock + -ious → “standing out from the flock” |
| aggregate a whole formed by combining many parts; a total | ag- toward + greg flock + -ate → “flocked together” |
| amicable friendly and without quarrels | amic friend + -able → “friendly” |
| inimical harmful; unfriendly | in- not + imic friend + -al → “not friendly” |
| accord agreement; harmony | ac- to + cord heart → “heart to heart” |
| discord disagreement; lack of harmony | dis- apart + cord heart → “hearts apart” |
| consensus general agreement | con- together + sens feel + -us → “feeling together” |
| dissent disagreement with an official or common view | dis- apart + sent feel → “feeling apart” |
Worked example: A word that changed sides
The referee made an egregious error and gave the goal to the wrong team. What does egregious mean today, and what did it once mean?
- Take it apart: e- (out) + greg (flock) + -ious: “standing out from the flock.”
- At first that was praise: an egregious scholar stood out from the crowd.
- Over time, people used it mostly for things that stand out in a bad way.
Answer: Today: outstandingly bad; shocking. Once: outstanding in a good way.
Meet the words
Common mistake
Missing am when it changes shape. In inimical (harmful, unfriendly), the Latin amicus (friend) became -imic- after in-: “not friendly.” The same change made enemy, which came to English through French. And remember that egregious now means bad, even though it once meant good.