词根词缀：a-, ab-, abs-

【来源及含义】Latin: prefix; from, away, away from

【相关描述】This prefix is normally used with elements of Latin and French origins (abs- usually joins elements beginning with c, q, or t).

The form ab- is regularly used before all vowels and h; and it becomes a- before the consonants m, p, and v. The prefix apo- has similar meanings.

This list is a very small sample of the multitudes of a-, ab-, abs- prefixes that are available in dictionaries and those in this unit are only meant to present a few examples.

【同源单词】abampere, abampere centimeter squared, abampere per square centimeter, abarticular, abarticulation, abbreviate

词根词缀：a-, an-

【来源及含义】Greek: prefix; no, absence of, without, lack of; not

【相关描述】These prefixes are normally used with elements of Greek origin, a- is used before consonants and an- is used before vowels.

It affects the meanings of hundreds of words.

There are too many words that use these prefix elements to list all of them on this site; however, there are significant examples listed in this and the other units where they exist.

【同源单词】abacterial, abaptism, abarognosis, abasia, abiocoen, abiogenesis

词根词缀：-ability

【来源及含义】Latin: suffix; expressing ability, capacity, fitness, or "that which may be easily handled or managed"

【相关描述】Just a few examples out of hundreds of words presented as the noun forms of -able; forming nouns of quality from, or corresponding to, adjectives in -able; the quality in an agent that makes an action possible. The suffix -ible has related meanings.

【同源单词】absolute permeability, absorbability, accountability, achievability, acquirability, adaptability

词根词缀：-able

【来源及含义】Latin: a suffix; expressing capacity, fitness to do that which can be handled or managed, suitable skills to accomplish something; capable of being done, something which can be finished, etc.

【相关描述】A suffix that forms adjectives. The suffix -ible has related meanings; expressing ability, capacity, fitness; capable of, fit for, able to be done, can be done, inclined to, tending to, given to.

This list is only a small sample of the thousands of -able words that exist in English.

【同源单词】abdicable, -able, abolishable, abominable, abradable, acceptable

词根词缀：-ac

【来源及含义】Greek > Latin: suffix; from French -aque, or directly from Latin -acus, from Greek -akos forming adjectives. This suffix was used to form names of arts and sciences in Greek and it is now generally used to form new names of sciences in English; meanings, "related to, of the nature of, pertaining to, referring to"

【相关描述】The suffix -ic has related elements.

【同源单词】ambrosiac, ammoniac, amnesiac, anaphrodisiac, anthomaniac, antidemoniac

词根词缀：academ-

【来源及含义】Greek > Latin: [originally, Academus/Akademus, a name of a hero in Greek mythology; then it became a gymnasium near Athens where Plato taught]

【相关描述】In the beginning, academy referred to the "olive grove of Academus" or "the groves of Academe". Plato established his school in 387 B.C. Music, philosophy, and literature were taught there. Some accounts say that Plato sat on the ground and taught while resting against the trunk of an olive tree.

Now academies generally exist as private-secondary schools, military institutions; as art, literary, and scientific societies; and institutions in the entertainment world. According to John Ayto, the more general meanings "college, place of training" derive from French.

【同源单词】academe, academia, academic, academical, academician, academicism

词根词缀：capit-, capt-, cap-, cep-, ceps-, chapt-, chef, cip-

【来源及含义】Latin: head; leader, chief, or first

【相关描述】It may be surprising to see that a "captain" and a "chef" both belong to the same word family; however, a captain is, of course, the "head of a company of military soldiers", and a "chef is the captain of a group of cooks".

A chef, especially to those who love good food, is not a lowly official; and when it is remembered that the old saying that "an army travels on its stomach", a chef is every bit as important as a captain.

When the French borrowed words from Latin, they frequently used soft sounds. These French words, with their softer sounds, then made their way into the English language. At the same time, English borrowed words directly from Latin. So it is that in English we often have two words which share the same root, but which have different, though related, forms and meanings.

Don't confuse the words in this capit-, capt- unit with those in the cap-, cip-, "catch, seize" unit.

【同源单词】a capite ad calcem, achieve, achievement, achiever, acid rain, alopecia capitis totalis

词根词缀：celer-

【来源及含义】Latin: fast, speed, swift, rapid

【相关描述】Compare this element with brady- for words with opposite meanings.

【同源单词】accelerant, accelerate, accelerate, accelerated, accelerated idioventricular rhythm, acceleration

词根词缀：-cise, -cis, -cide

【来源及含义】Latin: to cut, cut

【相关描述】From this combining form, we also get -cide, "kill", but don't confuse the two elements because they have different meanings and applications.

【相关词根词缀】Related cutting-word units: cast-; castrat-; -ectomy; mutil-; put-; sec-, seg-; temno-; -tomy; trunc-.

【同源单词】cement, chisel, circumcise, concise, concisely, conciseness

词根词缀：deliri-

【来源及含义】Latin: madness; crazy, rave, deranged; literally, to go off the furrow; from delirare, "to turn aside from the furrow", whence arose the meanings "to deviate, to become deranged, to be crazy, or to be delirious"

【相关词根词缀】Inter-related cross references, directly or indirectly, involving the "mind, mental" word units: anima-; anxi-; hallucina-; menti-; moro-; noo-; nous; phreno-; psych-; thymo-².

【同源单词】acute delirium, alcohol withdrawal delirium, alcohol withdrawal delirium tremens, anxious delirium, collapse delirium, deliriant