Common Roots Part B (bi-, di-, cept, cit, com, de-) Flashcards
bicycle
bi + cycle
two + wheel
vehicle with ‘two’ wheels
biped
bi + ped (pedem)
two + foot
from PIE root *ped- “foot”
animal that walks on ‘two’ feet
biceps
bis + ceps (caput)
double + head
muscle with ‘two’ heads that attach to bone
bicep is a false singular
from bis “double” (see bis-) + -ceps, combining form of caput “head” (from PIE root *kaput- “head”). As a noun meaning “biceps muscle of the arm,” from 1640s, so called for its structure. Despite the -s, it is singular, and classicists insist there is no such word as bicep.
bis-
word-forming element meaning “twice,” from Latin bis “twice, in two ways, doubly,” from Old Latin dvis, cognate with Sanskrit dvih, Avestan bish, Greek dis, Middle High German zwis “twice,” from PIE root *dwo- “two.” Also the form of bi- used before -s-, -c-, or a vowel.
bi-
word-forming element meaning “two, having two, twice, double, doubly, twofold, once every two,” etc., from Latin bi- “twice, double,” from Old Latin dvi- (cognate with Sanskrit dvi-, Greek di-, dis-, Old English twi-, German zwei- “twice, double”), from PIE root *dwo- “two.”
binoculars
bin (bini) + ocul (PIE okw) + ar + s
Two by two + to see + noun marker + plural marker
using ‘two’ eyes to see
1738, “involving both eyes,” earlier “having two eyes” (1713), from French binoculaire, from Latin bini “two by two, twofold, two apiece” (see binary) + ocularis “of the eye,” from oculus “eye” (from PIE root *okw- “to see”). The double-tubed telescopic instrument (1871, short for binocular glass) earlier was called a binocle. Related: Binocularity; binocularly.
bilingual
bi + lingua (dingua + lingere)+ al
two + tongue + adjective marker
of knowing ‘two’ languages fluently
from Latin lingua “tongue,” also “speech, language,” from Old Latin dingua, from PIE *dnghu- “tongue” (source also of Old English tunge “tongue;” see tongue (n.)). Altered in Latin probably in part by association with lingere “to lick.” Earlier “tongue-shaped” (c. 1400).
bicentennial
bi + cent + enni (annus) + al
two + hundred + year + adjective marker
annus to enni = The vowel change is “due to the Latin phonetic law according to which the unaccented and closed radical syllable of the second element of compounds, original -ă- becomes -ĕ-“
of a ‘two’ hundred year anniversary
biannual
bi + annu (annus) + al
two + year + adjective marker
of happening ‘two’ times each year
biennial
bi + enni (annus) + al
two + year + adjective marker
of happening once every ‘two’ years
dioxide
di + oxygen + ide
two + oxygen + last element listed in a compound or ion marker in chemistry
having ‘two’ oxygen atoms
Normal to hear carbon dioxide which is CO2
Oxygen = generates acid
Greek oxys “sharp, acid” (from PIE root *ak- “be sharp, rise (out) to a point, pierce”) + French -gène “something that produces” (from Greek -genēs “formation, creation;” see -gen).
dilemma
di + lemma
two + premise (before + send = sent)
a situation with ‘two’ equal choices
1520s in rhetoric (see below), from Late Latin dilemma, from Greek dilemma “double proposition,” a technical term in rhetoric, from di- “two” (see di- (1)) + lemma “premise, anything received or taken,” from root of lambanein “to take” (see lemma).
diphthong
di + phthong (phthongos)
double + sound/voice
‘two’ vowels as one syllable
“a union of two vowels pronounced in one syllable,” late 15c., diptonge, from Late Latin diphthongus, from Greek diphthongos “having two sounds,” from di- “double” (from PIE root *dwo- “two”) + phthongos “sound, voice,” which is related to phthengesthai “to utter a sound, sound, raise one’s voice, call, talk,” which Beekes reports as of “no certain etymology. None of the existing connections with semantically comparable words … is phonetically convincing.” Related: Diphthongal; diphthongization.
dipterous
di + pter (pteryx) + ous
Two + wing + adjective marker
of ‘two’ wings
from Greek pteryx “wing” (from PIE root *pet- “to rush, to fly”).
Compare to apterous (adj.)
“wingless,” 1775, from a- “not, without” (see a- (3)) + pterous, from Greek pteryx “wing”
bipartite
bi + part (partiri) + ite
Two + parts + noun or adjective marker
partiri = to divide
having ‘two’ parts
“in two parts, having two corresponding parts,” 1570s, from Latin bipartitus “divided,” past participle of bipartire “to divide into two parts,” from bi- “two” (see bi-) + partitus, past participle of partiri “to divide,” from pars “a part, piece, a share” (from PIE root *pere- (2) “to grant, allot”). Related: Bipartition.
-ite
word-forming element indicating origin or derivation from, from French -ite and directly from Latin -ita, from Greek -ites (fem. -itis), word-forming element making adjectives and nouns meaning “connected with or belonging to.” Especially used in classical times to form ethnic and local designations (for example in Septuagint translations of Hebrew names in -i) and for names of gems and minerals.
diphyllous
di + phyllo (phyllon) + ous
two + leaf + adjective marker
having ‘two’ leaves
phyll/phyllo=
word-forming element meaning “leaf,” from Greek phyllon “a leaf” (from PIE *bhol-yo- “leaf,” suffixed form of root *bhel- (3) “to thrive, bloom”).
You may have heard of chlorophyll which is what gives plant leaves their green colour. Colour + leaf
accept
ad + cept (capere)
towards + take
‘taken’ towards
from ad “to” (see ad-) + capere “to take” (from PIE root *kap- “to grasp”)
Compare with except =
from Latin exceptus, past participle of excipere “to take out, withdraw; make an exception, reserve,” from ex “out” (see ex-) + capere “to take,” from PIE root *kap- “to grasp.”
except
ex + cept
out + take
‘taken’ from
from Latin exceptus, past participle of excipere “to take out, withdraw; make an exception, reserve,” from ex “out” (see ex-) + capere “to take,” from PIE root *kap- “to grasp.”
exceptional
ex + cept + ion + al
out + take + noun marker + adjective marker
‘taken’ from the normal
deception
de + cept + ion
completely/down + taken + noun marker
‘taken’ from the truth
de =
active word-forming element in English and in many verbs inherited from French and Latin, from Latin de “down, down from, from, off; concerning” (see de), also used as a prefix in Latin, usually meaning “down, off, away, from among, down from,” but also “down to the bottom, totally” hence “completely” (intensive or completive), which is its sense in many English words.
perceptive
per + cept + ive
thoroughly + taken + adjective marker
having thoroughly ‘taken’ in one’s surroundings
intercept
inter + cept
between + taken
‘taken’ between origin and target
inter =
word-forming element used freely in English, “between, among, during,” from Latin inter (prep., adv.) “among, between, betwixt, in the midst of” (also used extensively as a prefix), from PIE *enter “between, among” (source also of Sanskrit antar, Old Persian antar “among, between,” Greek entera (plural) “intestines,” Old Irish eter, Old Welsh ithr “among, between,” Gothic undar, Old English under “under”), a comparative of root *en “in.”
concept
con + cept
thoroughly + taken
thoroughly ‘taken’ or seized in one’s brain
Con =
word-forming element meaning “together, with,” sometimes merely intensive; it is the form of com- used in Latin before consonants except -b-, -p-, -l-, -m-, or -r-. In native English formations (such as costar), co- tends to be used where Latin would use con-.
inception
in + cept + ion
in/on + taken + noun marker
‘taken’ in at the beginning
early 15c., “a beginning, a starting,” from Old French inception and directly from Latin inceptionem (nominative inceptio) “a beginning; an undertaking,” noun of action from past-participle stem of incipere “begin, take in hand,” from in- “in, on” (from PIE root *en “in”) + -cipere, combining form of capere “take, seize,” from PIE root *kap- “to grasp.”
receptive
re + cept + ive
back + taken + adjective marker
‘taken’ back to oneself
susceptible
sus + cept + ible
under + taken + able to be
able to be ‘taken’ under
sub =
word-forming element of Latin origin meaning “under, beneath; behind; from under; resulting from further division,” from Latin preposition sub “under, below, beneath, at the foot of,” also “close to, up to, towards;” of time, “within, during;” figuratively “subject to, in the power of;” also “a little, somewhat” (as in sub-horridus “somewhat rough”), from PIE *(s)up- (perhaps representing *ex-upo-), a variant form of the root *upo “under,” also “up from under,” which also yielded Greek hypo- and English up.
