Language/Modern-greek-1453/Vocabulary/Greek-Roots-in-Biology

Greek Roots in Biology

What is biology?

The word biology is derived from the Greek words bios meaning "life" and logos meaning "study" and is defined as the science of life and living organisms.

An organism is a living entity made up of a cell, e.g. bacteria, or multiple cells, e.g. animals, plants and fungi.

Aspects of biological science range from the study of molecular mechanisms in cells to the classification and behavior of organisms, the evolution of species and the interaction between ecosystems.

Biology often overlaps with other sciences; for example, biochemistry and toxicology along with biology, chemistry and medicine; biophysics with biology and physics; stratigraphy with biology and geography; astrobiology with biology and astronomy. Social sciences such as geography, philosophy, psychology, and sociology may also interact with biology, for example, in the administration of biological resources, developmental biology, biogeography, evolutionary psychology, and ethics.

Biology is the branch of science that studies life and living organisms. There are many branches of science that are part of biology, including ecology (how organisms interact with their environment), agriculture (the study of the production of crops from the earth), biochemistry (the chemical reactions necessary to support life), botany (the study of plants), physiology (how living organisms work), and zoology (the study of animals). 

Common Roots in Biology

Students in introductory biology lessons usually have to learn more new vocabulary words than students in a foreign language! The good news is that many words in scientific vocabulary use the same Greek and Latin roots. When you know these roots, you can understand what a word means, even if you've never heard it before. This chart shows you many roots to help you decipher the words you hear in biology class.

Greek or Latin Root	Greek or Latin?	Meaning	Meaning	Examples
A-, An-	Greek	Non-existence of life	Not, absent	Abiotic: without life Anoxygenic: without oxygen
Ab-, Abs-	Latin	removal or cutting away	Away from	Abscission: separation of leaves from tree
Allo-	Greek	other, different	Another	Allosteric: another binding site
Aqua-	Latin	containing water	Water	Aqueous: watery
Bi-	Latin	in compounds	Two	Bilayer: double layered
Bio-	Greek	life + science	Life	Biology: the study of life
-cide	Latin	cutter, killer, slayer	Kill	Bacteriocidal: kills bacteria
Cyt	Greek	cyto- : cell + -plasm.	Cell	Cytoplasm: the fluid inside a cell
Di-	Greek	"two" and cognate with bi-	Two	Disaccharide: a carbohydrate made of two simple sugars
Dis-	Latin	lack of, not	Apart	Disjoin: separate
Endo-	Greek	inside, within, internal	Inside	Endocytosis: a process that brings things into a cell
Epi-	Greek	on, upon, above	Upon, over	Epidermis: the uppermost layer of tissue covering an organism
Eu-	Greek	good, well	True	Eukaryotes have a true nucleus
Ex-	Greek-Latin	out of, from within	Out	Exocytosis: a process that puts things out of cells
Geno-	Greek	generation, race	Give birth, beget	Genetics: the study of heredity
Hetero-	Greek	the other of two	Mixed, unlike	Heterozygous: a cell that has two different versions of a gene
Homo-	Greek	the same,one and the same	Same	Homozygous: a cell that has two identical versions of a gene
Hyper-	Greek		Above	Hypertonic: has a greater concentration of solutes
Hypo-			Below	Hypotonic: has a lower concentration of solutes
Inter-			Between	Interphase: the cellular phase between cell divisions
Iso-			Same	Isotonic: has same concentration of solutes
Locus			Place	A locus on a chromosome is the place where a gene is located
Macro-			Big	Macrophage: a large phagocyte
-meter			Measure	Centimeter: a measurement that’s 1/100 of a meter
Micro-			Small	Microbiology: the study of living things too small to see with the naked eye
Mono-			One	Monosaccharide: a single simple sugar
Olig-			Few	Oligosaccharide: a short chain of sugars
Ped-, Pod			Foot	Pseudopod: a “false foot” or projection of an amoeba
Phago-			Eat	Phagocytosis: a process where a white blood cell engulfs and destroys bacteria and viruses
-phil			Love	Hydrophilic: mixes well with water
-phobia			Fear	Hydrophobic: doesn’t mix with water
Poly-			Many	Polypeptide: a chain of many amino acids
Pro-			Before	Prokaryotes: cells that evolved before nucleated cells
Stom-			Mouth	Stomates: openings in the surfaces of leaves
Zoo-			Animal	Zoology: the study of animals

Sources

• https://www.ntnu.edu/biology/about-us/what-is-biology
• https://www.dummies.com/education/science/biology/common-latin-and-greek-roots-in-biology-vocabulary/

Author

Marianthi

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