Grow your vocabulary with Frater

(Last updated 2024-11-30)

Introduction

Much of Frater's vocabulary is taken from scientific terms. You can use these words to improve your scientific vocabulary in you own language.

ANU "year"

The Frater word ANU comes from the Latin word ANNUS meaning "year."

In the original Latin, the word had two N's in it. In longer words the A changed to an E. And so you can find the word root in these English words:

ANNUAL "every year." Annual plants need to be planted once every year.

PERENNIAL "through the years" - Perennial plants only have to be planted once, and they come up every year after that. 

BIENNIAL "every two years" - don't mix this one up with:

BIANNUAL "twice a year." (BI means "two" in Frater also.)

CENTENNIAL "hundred years."

In Frater we also have ANU DANSA, meaning "leap year," and ANU NEO, meaning "new year."

AUTO "self"

AUTO comes from the Greek word meaning "self." Many modern English words use it to mean something goes "by itself."

AUTOMATIC "Does it by itself."

AUTOMOBILE "Moves by itself."

AUTOBIOGRAPHY "Something you write about your own life."

AUTOGRAPH "Write it yourself."

BI "two"

BI comes from the Greek word for "two" or the Latin word for "double." It often get used in scientific and technical terms.

BIENNIAL "Every two years."

BINARY "Double." Binary mathematics uses only the numbers 0 and 1 (a base-two numeral system).

BILATERAL "Two-sided."

BIO "life"

BIOLOGY "Words about life."

BIOGRAPHY "A writing about someone's life."

AUTOBIOGRAPHY "A writing you wrote yourself about your life."

DEKA "ten"

Greek DEKA and Latin DECEM "ten" have found many uses in today's digital world.

DECIMAL "Base-10," from Latin "tenth."

DECIMATE "Break into tenths, destroy."

DODECAGON "Twelve corners," a twelve-sided shape.

DEMO "people"

DEMOCRACY "Control by the people."

DEMOCRAT "One who believes in control by the people."

DEMOGRAPHIC "Drawn according to ethnic groups."

DIA "through, across"

DIAGONAL "Across the corners."

DIAMETER "Measure across."

DIARRHEA "Flows through."

EMO "blood"

HAEMO is the Greek word root for "blood." It is found in many medical terms. 

HEMATITE A red rock, colored by rust. 

HEMOGLOBIN "Blood ball."

HEMOPHILIA "Loves to bleed."

HEMORRHAGE and -

HEMORRHOID "Blood flow."

FILO "love"

From Greek, this word is usually spelled with a PH, PHILO.

PHILADELPHIA "city of love"

PHILANTHROPY "loves people"

PHILOSOPHY "loves wisdom"

FLOR "flower"

From Latin.

FLORA The plants of a specific area.

FLORESCENCE "blooming, flowering"

FLORID "colored, reddish" (Compare Spanish FLORIDA "flowered.")

FLORIST Someone who works with flowers.

FOB "fear"

The ancient Greek word root is PHOB. It has many uses in psychology.

ACROPHOBIA "Fear of heights"

ARACHNOPHOBIA "Fear of spiders"

CLAUSTROPHOBIA "Fear of enclosed spaces"

XENOPHOBIA "Fear of foreigners"

Frater also has FOBERGO, "fear of work," meaning "laziness."

FOLIO "leaf"

FOLIAGE "Leaves"

DEFOLIATE "Leaves (or flakes) fall off"

FONO "voice, sound"

From the Greek root PHONO.

MEGAPHONE "Big voice"

PHONETICS, PHONICS Study of sounds in language

TELEPHONE "Distant voice"

XYLOPHONE "Wood sound"

LARIN "throat"

LARIN comes from the Greek LARYNX, which is used as medical term. LARYNGITIS means "swelling of the throat."

LATERA "side"

LATERAL "On something's side"

UNILATERAL  "One-sided, only working for oneself"

BILATERAL "Two-sided, cooperatively"

LINGUA "tongue, language"

LINGUAL "Having to do with the tongue"

LINGUIST Someone who studies languages

BILINGUAL "Two languages"

LITO "stone"

LITHOGRAPHY Study of rocks

MONOLITH "One stone"

PATER "father"

PATER means "father" in both Latin and Greek. Many of our English words use this root.

PATRIARCH "Father-ruler."

PATRIOT "Of the fatherland."

PATRON "Big daddy," someone who supports you.

PATRONYMIC A name formed from a father's name, like Johnson, son of John.

PATO "sickness, pain, suffering"

PATHOGENIC "Having to do with diseases."

PATHOLOGY "Study of diseases."

PATHETIC "Sickly, weak."

SYMPATHETIC "Feeling someone else's pain."

PENDE "hang"

PENDE comes from the Latin word meaning "hang," and figuratively of something is hanging from something, it is dependent on that something.

PENDANT "A hanging piece of jewelry."

PENDENT "Hanging, dependent on."

PENDULUM "Hanging thing"

PENDULOUS "Hanging, swinging."