Q&A for How to Study the Etymology of Words

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Why is it important to know the etymology of words?

Katherine Demby
Academic Tutor
Katherine Demby is an Academic Consultant based in New York City. Katherine specializes in tutoring for the LSAT, GRE, SAT, ACT, and academic subjects for high school and college students. She holds a BA in History and Political Science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a JD from Yale Law School. Katherine is also a freelance writer and editor.

Katherine Demby

Academic Tutor

Expert Answer

Besides the fact that it's super interesting, knowledge of etymology will make it much easier to identify words you don't know. It's especially helpful when it comes to standardized tests, and reading.

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What's the easiest way to find where a word comes from?

Katherine Demby
Academic Tutor
Katherine Demby is an Academic Consultant based in New York City. Katherine specializes in tutoring for the LSAT, GRE, SAT, ACT, and academic subjects for high school and college students. She holds a BA in History and Political Science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a JD from Yale Law School. Katherine is also a freelance writer and editor.

Katherine Demby

Academic Tutor

Expert Answer

Look it up in an etymological dictionary! You can buy a hardcover copy, or you can just hop online and search a digital dictionary. That's going to be the fastest way.

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What should I start studying first if I want to learn etymology?

Katherine Demby
Academic Tutor
Katherine Demby is an Academic Consultant based in New York City. Katherine specializes in tutoring for the LSAT, GRE, SAT, ACT, and academic subjects for high school and college students. She holds a BA in History and Political Science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a JD from Yale Law School. Katherine is also a freelance writer and editor.

Katherine Demby

Academic Tutor

Expert Answer

Start by working through the super common prefixes and suffixes. Once you've identified one, you can make inferences about other words with the same prefix or suffix. For example, matri- comes from the Latin word mater, which means "mother." So, once you know that you can immediately figure certain things out about maternity, matricide, matrimony, or matriarchal. They're all related to motherhood or women!

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Do you have any tips or tricks for how I could study it quickly and easily?

Community Answer

Make sure you are writing down the word 3 times for memory and spelling. It also helps to find a word or picture that reminds you of the etymology. These tips help me and they will probably help you too!

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What is the etymology of the word "faith"?

Donagan

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It is derived from old French and Latin terms meaning "reliability" or "allegiance." The Latin word is "fides" and the French word is "feid."

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