Question 1
"Biology", "biography", "biodegradable" all share the root 'bio', meaning...
💡 'Bio' comes from Greek, meaning 'life' — biology is the study of life.
Year 6 — Vocabulary
Word origins
Use word ROOTS to work out meaning, understand MORPHOLOGY (how words are built from parts), and explore ETYMOLOGY (a word's history and origin).
Understand
A ROOT is the core part of a word carrying its main meaning (e.g. 'spect' meaning 'look', as in 'inspect', 'spectator'). MORPHOLOGY is the study of how words are built from roots, prefixes, and suffixes. ETYMOLOGY is a word's history — where it originally came from.
“'Telephone' comes from Greek 'tele' (far) + 'phone' (sound) — literally 'far sound'. Knowing this root helps you understand related words like 'television' (tele + vision = 'far sight') and 'telegraph' (tele + graph = 'far writing').”
Recognising the shared root 'tele' (far) across telephone, television, and telegraph shows how understanding etymology and morphology together lets you work out a whole family of related words, not just one.
Spot it
What does this word root mean?
Question 2
"Portable", "transport", "export" all share the root 'port', meaning...
💡 'Port' comes from Latin, meaning 'to carry'.
Question 3
"Manual", "manufacture", "manuscript" all share the root 'manu', meaning...
💡 'Manu' comes from Latin, meaning 'hand' — manuscript literally means 'written by hand'.
Think about it
Why might learning a single root like 'tele' (far) or 'bio' (life) be more valuable than memorising individual vocabulary words one at a time?
Try it
Work out the meaning using the shared root.
You encounter the unfamiliar word 'aquarium', and you already know 'aqueduct' means a structure that carries water.
Question 1
Using the shared root 'aqua', what does 'aquarium' most likely relate to?
💡 'Aqua' is the Latin root shared by both words — think about what it means.
Practise
Work out the meaning of the shared root in each word family.
Question 1
"Autograph", "autobiography", "automatic" share the root 'auto', meaning...
Question 2
"Chronological", "chronicle", "synchronise" share the root 'chron', meaning...
Question 3
"Geography", "geology", "geometry" share the root 'geo', meaning...
Question 4
In one word, what is the core part of a word that carries its main meaning called?
💡 It's the key term introduced in this lesson.
Question 5
"Dictionary", "predict", "dictate" share the root 'dict', meaning...
Question 6
Why is learning word roots more efficient than memorising vocabulary word by word?
Apply
Read the passage, then answer the questions below.
The archaeologists used a photograph taken by an autonomous drone to survey the site. The telescope revealed structures buried for centuries, and the team's biologist noted traces of ancient plant life preserved in the soil.
Question 1
What does 'photograph' most likely mean, given 'photo' means 'light' and 'graph' means 'writing/drawing'?
💡 Combine the meanings of 'photo' (light) and 'graph' (writing/drawing).
Question 2
What does 'telescope' most likely relate to, given 'tele' means 'far' and 'scope' means 'to see'?
Question 3
What does 'biologist' mean, given 'bio' means 'life'?
💡 Combine 'bio' (life) with '-ologist' (a person who studies).
Challenge
Choose a root from this lesson (or another you know) and write three related words that share it, explaining each word's meaning using the root.
Review
A quick mastery check — 3 questions.
Question 1
"Thermometer" and "thermal" share the root 'therm', meaning...
Question 2
Etymology refers to...
Question 3
Morphology is the study of...
Want to practise building words from prefixes, suffixes and roots? Try the word-family builder →