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Biology Word Building Skills Sheet

As in any living language, English words are invented, as they are needed. In biology, many words are built from Greek and Latin terms that serve as root words. Every year, as biologists make new discoveries, they need to invent and introduce new words made from these roots. Word roots can be added to other root words, prefixes can be added at the beginning of the word, and suffixes can be added to the end. In this way, words are produced which other biologists can understand, and which otherwise might take one or more whole sentences to express.

The root cyto is a good example. It is a Greek word meaning hollow vessel. In Biology, cyto always means cell. Cells are units of which living things are made. They may be thought of as any hollow vessels containing various mixtures of the substances found in living things.

A suffix found in many English words is logy, meaning the study of. Cytology is the study of cells. A biologist who specializes in this subject is a cytologist. Genesis means beginning. Cytogenesis means the formation of new cells. Many biology terms contain the root chrome, which means colour. Cytochromes are pigments found in various kinds of cells.

To help you begin to memorize some of these Latin and Greek root words, do the following activities.

Think of some words you use that contain the following Greek or Latin root words.

|ROOT WORD |MEANING |YOUR EXAMPLE(S) |

|Derm |Skin | |

|Bio |Life | |

|Cephalo |Head | |

|Astro |Star, space [pic] | |

|Echino |Spiny, prickly [pic] | |

|Phyta, Phyto |Plant | |

|Poda |Foot [pic] | |

|A |Opposite, not | |

|Arthro |Joint [pic] | |

|Pyrro |Fire [pic] | |

|Tracheo |Tube | |

|Ptera |Wing[pic] | |

|Zoo, Zoa |animal | |

Use the table of root words to match the mostly make- believe terms on the left with their English meanings on the right.

Dicephalosis is superior to monocephalosis after his own heart

Gymnopodosis barefootedness

Erytrocephalis red head

Pastautocardosis runny nose

Rhinorrhea two heads are better than one

Translate these make-believe words into commonly used English phrases. At least one part of each word is not described in the root list. Look up the meaning of missing parts (if you need to) in a good dictionary.

|Word |Meaning |

| Cervicalgia | |

| Ciopthalmia | |

| Evolvoneophyll | |

| Macromallupus | |

Your task is to analyze each of the following words. Separate each word into its parts, looking up and recording the meaning of each part. Then record the meaning of the combined term.

|Term |Meaning |

|Heterotrophic | |

|Ectothermic | |

|Autotrophic | |

|Metamorphosis | |

|Epidermis | |

|Pathogen | |

|Pseudopod | |

|Pyrrophyta | |

The names at various levels of classification are often made up of Greek or Latin roots. Follow the same procedures as above with these terms.

|Names |Meaning |

|Tracheophyta [pic] | |

|Orthoptera [pic] | |

|Arthropoda [pic] | |

|Echinodermata[pic] | |

|Hemiptera [pic] | |

|Osteichtyes [pic] | |

|Chondrichtyes[pic] | |

|Homoptera [pic] | |

|Cephalopoda[pic] | |

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