Roots And Affixes

PREFIXES

The prefixes syn- and sym- mean “together”. Similarly, the prefixes col-, com- and con- mean “with” or “together”. Let’s take a look at some familiar words that use these prefixes.

A synonym is a word that has nearly the same meaning as another word. The word sympathy, literally means “with feeling”. A colleague is a person that you may work with (for example, at the company). As you know, context refers to the text around a word or phrase.

The prefix a- is used to indicate that something is the “opposite” of something. For example, while a theist is a person who believes in God, an atheist is a person who does not believe in God. Something that is not typical is atypical.

Finally, the prefix trans- means “across”. The expression Trans-Siberian Railroad refers to a train that goes across Siberia.

ROOTS

The roots –mit- (usually used in verbs) and –mis- (usually used in nouns) mean “send”. These roots are evident in such common words as submit, transmission and remittance.

Exercise

Instructions: Using what you know about these roots and affixes and the context, determine the meaning of the following bold-faced words.

After successful chemotherapy, the patient’s cancer was in remission😄 Re- means "back"..
Most of the interactions between species involve food. These interactions are often brief. There are many cases, however, where two species live in close association for long periods. Such associations are called symbiotic😄 Bio- means "life".
A page layout with staggered headlines or with several small graphics on one half balanced by one large image on the other side is asymmetrical😄 -meter- means "measure".. When folded in half vertically, the two halves of the page are not equal.
Perhaps, women have superior communication😄 muni- means "wall" and suggests "build" skills due to their use of both the left and right hemispheres of the brain.
When we have multiple threads running, they will invariably need to communicate with each other in order to synchronize😄 chron- means "time". their execution.
The tribal leaders voted to convene😄 ven- means "come". an emergency meeting of the Sioux, Cheyenne and Dakota nations.
When Seira asked the man who looked like Johnny Depp for his autograph, he conveniently omitted😄 o- means "down". telling her that he was only a Hollywood double.