list of latin words with english derivatives

This is a list of Latin words with derivatives in English (and other modern languages). Note that ancient orthography did not distinguish between i and j or between u and v. Many modern works distinguish u from v but not i from j. In this article both distinctions are shown as they are helpful when tracing the origin of English words. See also Latin spelling and pronunciation.

Nouns and adjectives

The citation form for nouns (the one normally shown in Latin dictionaries) is the nominative singular, but this typically does not exhibit the root form from which English derivatives from Latin nouns are generally derived.

COLSPAN=4 BGCOLOR="#99CCFF"\|Latin Nouns and Adjectives
GCOLOR="#DBDBDB"\|Citation form	BGCOLOR="#DBDBDB"\|Root form	BGCOLOR="#DBDBDB"\|Meaning	BGCOLOR="#DBDBDB"\|English Derivative
lius	alio-	other	alien
onus – melior – optimus	bono- – melior- – optimo-	good – better – best	bonus ameliorate optimist
iēs	diē-	day	diet
ominus	domino-	lord	dominion
omus	domu-	house	domestic
ēmina	fēmina-	woman	feminine
omō	homin-	man (human being)	hominid
ex	lēg-	law	legal
ūna	lūna-	moon	lunar
agnus – mājor – maximus	magno- – mājor- – maximo-	big – bigger – biggest	magnitude major maximum
are	mar-	sea	marine
āter	mātr-	mother	matron, maternal
ihil, nīl	nihil	nothing	nil, nihilism
pus	oper-	work	operation
ater	patr-	father	patron, paternal
ex	rēg-	king	regal
erra	terra-	land	terrestrial
rbs	urb-	city	urban
ir	viro-	man (male person)	virile
īrus	vīro-	slime, poison	virus, viral

Verbs

The citation form for verbs is the first person singular, present indicative active, for instance sum meaning I am. English derivatives from Latin verbs are generally based on the present stem or the past stem. Many Latin verbs change the vowel of the first paragraph when combined with a preposition, as shown in the examples given below starting with a hyphen. For instance the word capiō (take) when combined with the preposition in gives the compound verb incipiō. In some cases the compound forms show features lost from the simple verb, for instance the initial consonant cluster gn was simplified in the Latin verb gnōscō just as the k is no longer pronounced in the English equivalent know.

COLSPAN=5 BGCOLOR="#99CCFF"\|Latin Verbs
GCOLOR="#DBDBDB"\|Citation form	BGCOLOR="#DBDBDB"\|Present stem	BGCOLOR="#DBDBDB"\|Perfect stem	BGCOLOR="#DBDBDB"\|Meaning	BGCOLOR="#DBDBDB"\|Typical derivative
gō	ag-	āct-	do	agent, action
udiō	aud-	aud-	hear	audible
apiō -cipiō	capi- -cipi-	capt- -cept-	take	capable, captive recipient, reception
ēdō	cēd-	cess-	yield, depart	recede, recession
laudō -clūdō	claud- -clūd-	claus- -clūs-	close	conclude, conclusive
aciō -ficiō	faci- -fici-	fact- -fect-	make	efficient, effective
erō	fer-	lāt-	bring	reference, relation
īgō	fīg-	fīx-	fix	crucifixion
ingō	fing-	fict	fashion, invent	fiction
radior -gredior	gradi- -gredi-	gress- -gress-	step	ingredient, progressive
aciō -(j)iciō	jaci- (j)ici-	jact- -ject-	throw	projectile
ūdō	lūd-	clūs-	play	collude, collusion
ergō	merg-	mers-	dip	emerge, immerse
ittō	mitt-	mīs-	send	commit, missive
ōscō -gnōscō	nōsc- -gnōsc-	nōt- -gnōt-, -gnit-	know	notable cognitive
ōnō	pōn-	posit-	put	component; position
remō	prem-	press-	push	pressure, oppress
umpō	rump-	rupt-	break	rupture
crībō	scrīb-	scrīpt-	write	scripture
um	es-	fut-	be	essence, future
ertō	vert-	vers-	turn	reverse
ideō	vidē-	vīs-	see	vision
olvō	volv-	volūt-	roll	revolve, revolution

Prepositions used to form compound words

Latin Preposition
Latin word	Meaning	Compound Form
ā, ab	from	ab-
ad	up to, near	ad-, ac-, ar-, al-
ante	before	ante-
cum	with, together	con-, coll-
dē	down from, about	de-
ē, ex	out of	ex, e-, ec-
in	in, into	in-, ill-
inter	between	inter-, intell-
juxtā	near, close to	juxtā
ob	towards	ob-, occ-
prae	before	prae-(pre-)
re	again	re-, red-
se	away from	sē-
prō	in front of, on behalf of	prō-
post	after, behind	post-
sub	under	sub-, sus-, succ-
super	above, on top of	super-
trāns	across	trāns-

Some examples of compound words

The boundary between the prefix and verb is sometimes unclear to English speakers unfamiliar with linguistics and Latin. For example, for a long time, "descend" (de- + scend) was thought to be made of des- and cend, hence it was also spelled dis- and dys-. Due to assimilation, the roots of some of the English verbs listed here are difficult to recognize. For example, ad- + ludo ("play") results in allude rather than *adlude. On the other hand, once a learner knows the rule they are less likely to make spelling mistakes: that the word aggressive is spelt with gg is due to the fact that it derives from ad + gredior, with -dg-, as it is more difficult to pronounce, having been turned into the easier -gg- (so that *agressive must be considered wrong).

	fero	mitto	pono	premo	scribo	volvo
a(b)-	ablative	---	---	---	---	---
ad-	---	admit admission	---	---	ascribe	---
con-	confer conference collation	commit commission	compose composition	compress compression	conscribe conscription	convoluted convolution
de-	defer deference	---	deponent depose deposition	depress depression	describe description	devolve devolution
e(x)-	---	emit emission	exponent expose exposition	express expression	---	evolve evolution
in-	infer inference	---	impose	impress impression	inscribe inscription	involve involvement
inter-	interfere interference	intermittent	interpose	---	---	---
iuxta-	---	---	juxtapose juxtaposition	---	---	---
ob-	offer	omit omission	oppose opposition	oppress oppression	---	---
prae-	prefer preference	---	preposition	---	prescribe prescription	---
pro-	---	---	propenent propose proposal	---	proscribe proscription	---
re-	refer relate	remit remission	repose	repress repression	---	revolve revolver, revolution
se-	---	---	---	---	---	---
sub-	suffer	submit submission	suppose supposition	suppress suppression	subscribe subscription	---
trans-	transfer translate	transmit transmission	transpose transposition	---	transcribe transcription	---

Other parts of speech

Latin word!!meaning
ur?	why?
t	and
n	in, on
s	he, that
d	it, that
uis	who
uid	what

External link

http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/resolveform?lang=Latin