 Breaking Down and Building Vocab Words How to make sense of those huge science words and even make up some of your own.

Roots  Group of letters to which prefixes and suffixes can be added to change its meaning  Examples:  -derm- = skin  -annu- = year  -phag- = eat

Prefixes  Group of letters added to the beginning of a word that changes the meaning of the word  Examples:  tele- = distant  micro- = small  anti- = against

Suffixes  Group of letters added to the end of a word that changes the meaning of the word  Examples:  -less = without  -meter = measurement  -phobia = fear of

Rule #1 1. Use the biggest prefix or suffix you can Example: For the word anthropomorphic… use “anthropo” not “an”

Rule #2 2. You cannot add letters to your word to make a prefix or suffix work Example: For the word fracas … you are not allowed to add a “t” to use the prefix “fract”

Rule #3 3. Leftover letters in your word are OK Example: For the word dinosaur … you would use the prefix “din” and the suffix “saur” leaving the “o” in the middle leftover

Putting it all together  Use your prefixes and suffixes to find the meaning of the following word… pachyderm pachy = thickderm = skin pachyderm = thick skin

Practice  Try these terms on your own… aquarium psychology aqu = water psych = mind arium = a place forlogy = the study of aquarium = a place for water psychology = the study of the mind

More practice  Try these on your own… Flexible hexagon pterodactyl aerodynamic