A long word can look like a wall of letters. Look again and you will often find it is built from parts, like train cars hooked together. Take unbreakable: un- (not) + break + -able (able to be). Put the parts together and the meaning falls out: “not able to be broken.”
Key idea
A prefix goes at the front and changes the meaning (un-, re-, pre-). The root is the core that carries the main idea (break, cred, spect). A suffix goes at the end and usually tells you the part of speech (-able and -ous make adjectives; -tion makes nouns; -ize makes verbs).
Many roots are not English words on their own. cred (believe) and spect (look) came from Latin, so you meet them only inside words: credible, incredulous, inspect, spectator. Once you know a root, every word built on it gets easier. Here is one root, port (carry), with its family:
One root, many words
Words taken apart
| Word | Prefix | Root | Suffix |
|---|---|---|---|
| unbreakable “not able to be broken” | un- not | break | -able able to be |
| preview “see before” | pre- before | view see | — |
| teacher “one who teaches” | — | teach | -er one who |
| credible “able to be believed” | — | cred believe | -ible able to be |
| incredulous “not inclined to believe” | in- not | cred believe | -ulous inclined to |
| circumspect “looking around” | circum- around | spect look | — |
| reclusive “tending to shut oneself away” | re- back, away | clus shut | -ive tending to |
Worked example: Take a word apart
What does transportable mean? Take it apart first.
- Find the prefix at the front: trans-, which means “across.”
- Find the suffix at the end: -able, which means “able to be.”
- What is left is the root: port, “carry.”
- Put the parts together: “able to be carried across.”
- Check it in a sentence: “The stage was built in pieces, so it was easy to load on a truck; it was transportable.” The meaning fits.
Answer: Able to be moved from one place to another.
Meet the word
Common mistake
Splitting a word by its letters alone. The pen in repent is not a writing pen, and uncle does not start with un-: these letters only look like parts. A part is a clue, not a guarantee. Use it to make a guess, then check the guess against the sentence the word is in.
A good habit for any new word: (1) look for a prefix, (2) look for a suffix, (3) see what root is left, (4) put the meanings together, and (5) test your guess in the sentence. The rest of this course teaches the parts that show up most often in strong writing.