Hi there EnglishXP readers, I hope your momentum to improve your English fluency has not waned. I have a quick one for you today. I was working on a website and I had to use some placeholder text. Anyone that is into web development or graphic arts would be familiar with the “Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit” type text. Some trivia for you. It turns out that the words are not meaningless. This interesting article explains its origins. Anyway, I thought about all the Latin terms used from my favorite one ceteris paribus which means all things being equal to persona non grata which means someone who is not to be reckoned with. I decided to share a list of the most popular Latin words with English derivatives. This list is certainly unexhaustive. I hope you enjoy it.
A) Abdomen:
Origin
“abdomin-“
Meaning
Belly
Other uses
abdominal, abdominous
B) Benefactor:
Origin
“ben”
Meaning
‘well’
Other uses
Benefactor, Benefit, Benign
C) Camera:
Origin
“Camer-“
Meaning
“Vault”
Other uses
Camera, Bicameral
D) Dexterous:
Origin
“dextr-)
Meaning
‘right’
Usage
Ambidextrous, dexterity
E) Exterior:
Origin
“Exter”
Meaning
“Outer”
Other uses
External, Extreme
F) Fungus:
Origin
“fung-”
Meaning
“mushroom”
Other uses
Fungal, fungicidal
G) Generate
Origin
“Gener-“
Meaning
Birth, offspring
Other uses
Generic, generous
H) Herbivore
Origin
“herb-“
Meaning
Grass
Other uses
Non-herbal, herbicide
I) Human
Origin
“homin-“
Meaning:
Man or human being
Other uses:
Inhuman, homage
J) Jocular
Origin
“joc-“
Meaning:
Jest
Other uses
Jocular, joke
L) Lacuna
Origin
“lac-“
Meaning:
“hollow”
Other uses
Lacuna, lake
M) Magnificent
Origin
“magn-“
Meaning:
“big”
Other uses
Magnate, magnitude
N) Neutral
Origin
“neutr-”
Meaning:
“neither”
Other uses
Neutral, neuter
O) Opaque
Origin
“opac”
Meaning:
“Shady”, “Not Transparent”
Other uses
Opacity, Opaque
P) Particular
Origin
“part-”
Meaning
“piece”
Other uses
Counterpart, `particle
Q) Quarter
Origin
“quart-“
Meaning:
“fourth”
Other uses
Quartile, squad
R) Primrose
Origin
“ros-“
Meaning:
“rose”
Other uses
Primrose. Rosette
S) Sauce
Origin
“sal-”
Meaning
“salt”
Other uses
Desalinate, salsa
T) Terminate
Origin
“termin-“
Meaning
“boundary”
Other uses
Determinant, terminator
U) Ulcer
Origin
“ulcer-”
Meaning
“sore”
Other uses
Ulcerous, ulcerate
V) Vanity
Origin
“van-“
Meaning
“empty”
Other uses
Vanish, vaunt
I hope you enjoyed this article and put any new words you learnt to use. If you found it useful, I encourage you to share it with your loved ones. I have many more articles like this guiding you on your path to English fluency. From an English learning roadmap to the reviews on the English learning programs you can take.