T is for Tiger

You may visit this tiger at the Toronto Zoo.

Some T prefixes

tachi—, tacho—, tachy— all imply “swift”.

tachometer

tachycardia

tauto— means “the same”.

tautology

techno— relates to the use of technology.

technobabble, technocracy

tele— comes from the Greek “far off” and often refers to television or telephone.

telecast, telegraph, teleprompter, telescope

ter— means “three” or “thrice”.

tercel, tercentennial

tera— means a factor of one trillion (10¹²) or, in computing, a multiple of 2⁴⁰.

terahertz, terawatt

terabit, terabyte

Some T suffixes

—t replaces the suffix —ed in some words.

gild, gilded [past tense/adjective], gilt [adjective]

spill, spilled [past tense], spilt [past participle]

spell, spelled [past tense], spelt [past participle]

spend, spent [past tense/past participle]

shall, shalt [second person singular, archaic]

 

—th, —eth are archaic or Biblical verb endings (third person singular, present tense).

He leadeth me beside still waters…

—th, —eth are endings that form ordinal numbers.

sixth, hundredth, millionth

nineth, twentieth

—th may refer to an act, process, state, or quality.

depth, growth, health, wealth, width

—the— may refer to God or gods.

atheist, pantheism

Exercises

1. Look through the prefixes and suffixes. Do you see any that you might use on a day-to-day basis? Create a sentence with each of those.
2. For the prefixes and suffixes that look less familiar, identify where you might find them, e.g., in a scientific text or a medical paper.

Special reading assignment

1. Two tigers tore through three treacle tarts.
2. Time and tide wait for no man. —Geoffrey Chaucer

C is for Cat

A domestic cat roams the streets of Toronto.

Prefixes

cir— or circ— stand for around.

circumference, circumstance

com— and con— stand for with.

combine, complete, compassion

conclave, conduct, conclude

co— means jointly.

coaxial, co-ed, cooperate

contra— means against.

contradict

counter— against, opposite, or in reply.

counteract, counterfeit, countersign

Suffixes

—aceae plant families.

Corylaceae [hazelnuts]

—ance, —ence  create a  noun describing a state or condition, or an action.

circumstance, continuance

conscience, dependence, emergence

Exercises

1. Do you know the meaning of each word? If you can’t figure it out, go to the dictionary.
2. Can you think of additional words with the same prefixes and suffixes? 

Special reading assignment

1. Crazy kings and queens can’t corral coral-coloured cows quickly.
2. The trouble with cats is that they’ve got no tact.                                — P. G. Wodehouse

 

Note: If you like cats and history, you may like to read the e-book, Edwardian Annotated Pets and How to Keep Them. This book discusses the origin of cats as pets, European wild cats, and also recommends how to keep a cat in 1907, Edwardian England.