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Greek & Latin roots, prefixes & suffixes

Grade 5 · English Language Arts · Free lesson

Hi there! I'm Studyfin, your friendly learning buddy. Today, we are going to explore how we can build big words using smaller word parts!

Words are often made of smaller parts. A prefix is a word part added to the beginning of a word, like 'trans-' or 'super-'. A suffix is added to the end of a word, like '-ive' or '-logy'.

Let us look at the prefix 'trans-', which means 'across'. When we add 'trans-' to 'port' (to carry), we get 'transport'. This means to carry something across a distance.

BOX trans- (across) + port = transport

Now let us check out the suffix '-logy', which means 'the study of'. If you love animals, you study 'zoology'! The suffix '-ive' means 'tending to', like how a creative person tends to create things.

bio- + -logy biology (study of life) act + -ive active (tending to act)
✏️ Worked example

Let us figure out the meaning of the word 'superactive'. We will break it down step-by-step using our thinking skills!

  1. Find the prefix: Look at the start of the word. We see 'super-', which means 'above', 'extra', or 'beyond'.
  2. Find the base word and suffix: The base word is 'act' (to do something), and the suffix is '-ive' (tending to). Together, 'active' means tending to move or do things.
  3. Combine the meanings: Put 'super-' (extra) together with 'active' (tending to move).
  4. Explain the final meaning: 'Superactive' means tending to be extra busy or moving way more than usual!
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