Abbreviated from the November 2002 issue of

It’s all Greeek to me

Mike Gilmore has put together a comprehensive list of prefixes to enlighten OUGSME members as to the origin and meaning of scientific terminology. The Latin and Greek words (under the heading “origin”) and the accompanying text from our Newsletter version have been left out in this Web version.

Term	Origin	Meaning	Pronunciation
a	Greek	not
acer	Latin	sharp	ace-er
acro-	Greek	outermost	akrow
ana-	Greek	up	anna
annul-	Latin	ring	annewl
archae-	Greek	chief	arkee
arthro-	Greek	joint
astro-	Latin	star
belemnite	Greek	art
brachy-	Greek	short	bracky
bryo-	Greek	moss
bronto-	Greek	thunder
cai(e)no-	Greek	recent	kye-no
cata-	Greek	down	catter
cepha-	Greek	head	keffa
crypto-	Greek	hide
cyclo-	Greek	circle	sicklow
curto-	Greek	curved	cure-toe
dacty-	Greek	toe
dicty-	Greek	net
didymo-	Greek	double
dia-	Greek	across
dino-	Greek	terrible
diplo-	Greek	double
dolicho-	Greek	long	dolly-ko
echino-	Greek	hedgehog	ek-keeno
eo-	Greek	dawn	ee-oh
eu-	Greek	good	yew
equi-	Latin	horse
facies	Latin	shape	fass-es
fenestrel-	Latin	window
gastro-	Greek	belly
giganto-	Greek	giant	jyganto
glauco-	Greek	greenish	glawko
globo-	Latin	sphere
glosso-	Greek	tongue
gonio-	Greek	knee
grapto-	Greek	written
heli-	Greek	sun	heely
hetero-	Greek	opposite
hexa-	Greek	six
hippo-	Greek	horse
holo-	Greek	whole	hollow
homo-	Greek	same	homm-oh
hoplites	Greek	soldier	hop-liteease
ichthy-	Greek	fish	ikk-thee
ischio -	Greek	hipjoint	iss-keyoh
lepido-	Greek	scale
lingula-	Latin	tongue of land
litho-	Greek	stone
macro-	Greek	long
medus-	Greek	ruler
meso-	Greek	middle	mee-zo
meta-	Greek	change
micro-	Greek	small
mio-	Greek	lesser	my-oh
mono-	Greek	alone
murex	Latin	purple
naut-	Greek	sailor
neo-	Greek	new
neuro-	Greek	tendon
noto-	Greek	back
oculo-	Latin	eye
oligo-	Greek	few
onco-	Greek	hook
oo-	Greek	egg	oh-oh
ophi-	Greek	snake	off-ee
orth-	Greek	straight
pachy-	Greek	thick	packy
palaeo-	Greek	old	pally-oh
para-	Greek	beside
penta-	Greek	five
petri-	Greek	rock
phanero-	Greek	visible
phyllo-	Greek	leaf	fillow
pinna-	Latin	feather
platy-	Greek	broad	platty
plesio-	Greek	near
pleuro-	Greek	side	plur-oh
plio-	Greek	swimming	plee-oh
pod-	Greek	foot
pteri-	Greek	fern
ptero-	Greek	feather
reticul-	Latin	net
rhizo-	Greek	root	rye-zo
rhyncho-	Greek	snout	rink-oh
scaph-	Greek	spade
sphaeri-	Greek	spherical
spiri-	Greek	coil
stella-	Latin	star
syringo-	Greek	pipe
tere-	Latin	bore	terry
tetra-	Greek	four
thalass-	Greek	sea
thamno-	Greek	bush
trachy-	Greek	rough	tracky
trocho-	Greek	round	track-oh