Word Roots
2 roots • 8 wordsVOC
Root Meaning:
VOC comes from the Latin words meaning “voice” and “speak.” So a vocal ensemble is a singing group. A vocation was originally a “calling” from God to do religious work as a priest, monk, or nun, though today most people use the word just to mean a career. And a vocabulary is a set of words for speaking.
Etymology:
Latin
4 words derived from this root
Words from this root:
equivocate
/ɪˈkwɪvəˌkeɪt/
Definition:
(1) To use ambiguous language, especially in order to deceive. (2) To avoid giving a direct answer.
Example:
As the company directors continued to equivocate, the union prepared to return to the picket lines.
Explanation:
With its root *equi-*, meaning “equal,” *equivocate* suggests speaking on both sides of an issue at the same time. An *equivocal* answer is one that manages not to take a stand; an *unequivocal* answer, by contrast, is strong and clear. Politicians are famous for equivocating, but *equivocation* is also typical of used-car salesmen, nervous witnesses in a courtroom, and guys whose girlfriends ask them how committed they are to a relationship.
irrevocable
/ɪˈrɛvəkəbəl/
Definition:
Impossible to callback or retract.
Example:
She had told him she wasn't going to see him again, but he couldn't believe her decision was irrevocable.
Explanation:
*Irrevocable* has a formal sound to it and is often used in legal contexts. Irrevocable trusts are trust funds that cannot be dissolved by the people who created them (the other kind is a *revocable* trust). An irrevocable credit is an absolute obligation from a bank to provide credit to a customer. Irrevocable gifts, under U.S. tax law, are gifts that are given by one living person to another and can't be reclaimed by the giver. But the word isn't always legal; we've all had to make irrevocable decisions, decisions that commit us absolutely to something.
advocate
/ˈædvəˌkeɪt/
Definition:
To speak in favor of.
Example:
Our lawyer is advocating a suit against the state, but most of us would rather try some other approaches first.
Explanation:
The verb *advocate* may be followed by *for* (“advocated for better roads,” “advocated for merging the two school districts”) or by a noun or gerund (“advocating an increase in the military budget,” “advocated closing the budget gap”). But *advocate* isn't only a verb: An *advocate* is someone who advocates for you, or argues on your side. Originally, this was often a lawyer in court, and in Britain *advocate* is still a term for “lawyer.”
vociferous
/voʊˈsɪfərəs/
Definition:
Making noisy or emphatic outcries.
Example:
Whenever the referee at these soccer games makes a questionable call, you hear vociferous protests from half the parents.
Explanation:
A vociferous group shouts loudly and insistently, and they're usually not too happy about something. So, for example, we often hear about vociferous critics, vociferous demands, vociferous opponents, or a vociferous minority. When a small group makes itself vociferous enough, everyone else may even start thinking it's actually a majority.
PHON
Root Meaning:
PHON is a Greek root meaning “sound,” “voice,” or “speech.” It's probably most familiar in the form of the English suffix -phone, in words that begin with a Greek or Latin root as well.
Etymology:
Latin
4 words derived from this root
Words from this root:
phonics
/ˈfɒnɪks/
Example:
My son's school switched to phonics instruction several years ago, and reading achievement in the early grades has been improving.
Explanation:
In the field of beginning reading, there are two basic schools of thought in the U.S. today. One emphasizes “whole language” teaching, which relies on teaching a lot of reading; the other emphasizes phonics, teaching how letters and syllables correspond to sounds. Phonics instruction may be especially difficult in English, since English has the most difficult spelling of any Western language.
phonetic
/fəˈnɛtɪk/
Definition:
Relating to or representing the sounds of the spoken language.
Example:
In almost every Spanish word the pronunciation is clear from the spelling, so the phonetic part of learning Spanish isn't usually a big challenge.
Explanation:
The English alphabet is phonetic—that is, the letters represent sounds. The Chinese alphabet, however, isn't phonetic, since its symbols represent ideas rather than sounds. But even in English, a letter doesn't always represent the same sound; the “a” in *cat, father,* and *mate,* for example, represents three different sounds. Because of this, books about words often use specially created phonetic alphabets in which each symbol stands for a single sound in order to represent pronunciations.
polyphonic
/ˌpɒlɪˈfɒnɪk/
Example:
Whenever he needed something calming, he would put on some quiet polyphonic music from the Renaissance and just let the voices waft over him.
Explanation:
Since *poly-* means “many”, polyphonic music has “many voices.” In *polyphony,* each part has its own melody, and they weave together in a web that may become very dense; a famous piece by Thomas Tallis, composed around 1570, has 40 separate voice parts. Polyphony reached its height during the 16th century with Italian madrigals and the sacred music of such composers as Tallis, Palestrina, and Byrd. Usually when we speak of polyphony we're talking about music of Bach's time and earlier; but the principles remain the same today, and songwriters such as the Beatles have sometimes used polyphony as well.
cacophony
/kəˈkɒfəni/
Definition:
Harsh or unpleasant sound.
Example:
In New York she was often dragged off by her boyfriend to downtown jazz concerts, where she struggled to make sense of what sounded like nothing but cacophony.
Explanation:
*Cacophony* employs the Greek prefix *caco-,* meaning “bad,” but not everything we call *cacophonous* is necessarily bad. Grunge, thrash, hardcore, and goth music are unlistenable to some people and very popular to others. Open-air food markets may be marked by a cacophony of voices but also by wonderful sights and sounds. On the other hand, few people can really enjoy, for more than a few minutes, the cacophony of jackhammers, car horns, and truck engines that assaults the city pedestrian on a hot day in August.