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  • Hi, everyone. I'm Jade. Today we're talking about Greek words in English, and I'm not

  • teaching you these words because they'll be the most useful words for you, and I'm not

  • teaching you these words so you can go around sounding really clever using long words when

  • you're speaking English. The reason is to show you a little bit about how the English

  • language has evolved, and also so that when you do encounter a long word, you can use

  • what I'm teaching you today to break it down, and maybe you'll recognize parts of this word

  • and that will help you understand.

  • So, let's have a look at some Greek words in English. So, most of the time, when we

  • find a Greek word in English, it's , it represents a concept or idea,

  • and there'll be quite a lot of medical language as well. So, looking at medical words for

  • the mind and body. The Greeks from a long time ago, they were very knowledgeable about

  • medicine and things like that, so we took a lot of words from their language. We didn't

  • have idea... We didn't have words for these things, because it was not knowledge known

  • here, so the concepts came from Greece, and with that, the language came from Greece.

  • So, when we find a word with "dermo" or "derma" in it, we need to think of this part of the

  • word as a building block, and you put different building blocks together, and that can help

  • you understand the whole meaning of the word; otherwise known as a root. So, that means

  • skin. And when we get this end part of the world... Word, which sounds like "ology",

  • that means study of the subject. So, skin, study of the skin. You put it together, and

  • that gives you the full meaning. So, if you have a problem with... With your skin and

  • you need to go to the hospital, you would go to the "dermatology department", and the

  • doctor would be a "dermatologist"; a special doctor who knows about skin problems. A different

  • skin problem is "dermatitis", and the "titis" part means inflammation, it means... Could

  • be... Could be swollen skin, or it could be inside your body. If it's a problem with your

  • bones, you get a disease called "arthritis" that older people get, usually, and it's quite

  • painful and difficult to move their fingers, and things like that. So, these are examples

  • of medical words. You can sometimes get a sense of what one part means, and maybe guess

  • the other.

  • Similarly, when we get words with "hemo" or "hema", this is related to blood. "Hemoglobin"

  • is a part of what makes up our blood. "Hematoma" is the medical word for bruise. You know when

  • you hit yourself and skin goes purple? If it's a... If it's a big bruise, then it's

  • a hematoma. And a "hemorrhage" is a medical problem where... Where blood is suddenly,

  • like, leaking out where it's not meant to be inside your body, and you can be in very

  • big, big, big trouble if you get a hemorrhage. Sometimes people get a brain hemorrhage, and

  • maybe they die from that. So, "hemo" or "hema" means blood.

  • What about "psycho" or "psych"? What does this mean? Well, this is to do with the mind,

  • and I think these words have... These words are interesting because we can see how they're

  • related. So, we have "psychic", that's the power of being able to read somebody's mind;

  • one mind to another mind. "Psycho" means, like, crazy. And "psychiatrist" means doctor

  • of the mind. So, whenever you see a word with this, you know it's to do with the mind basically.

  • That's a useful one, I think; you can find that in a lot of words.

  • Then, let's have a look at words with "mania". You'll find words with "mania" at the end.

  • "Mania" means to be mad or addicted to something, so here are two... Here are two words. "Cleptomania"

  • means somebody addicted to stealing things; thief. They can't help themselves, but steal

  • things. And "nymphomania" means somebody addicted to sex, somebody who can't help themselves

  • from having sex. But that we've got many, many words with this "mania" on the end, so

  • if you see that, you can... You ca get a sense, again, of what it actually means.

  • And we've got words here, "anthrop" and that means human, related to human things. "Anthropology",

  • do you remember what this part means? The study of. The study of humans. So, "an anthropologist"

  • is somebody who studies the way people live in society and culture in the worlds. And

  • "anthropomorphic", you might use this if you're a kind of literature student or something.

  • This is a word for when we make things that aren't humans... We talk about things that

  • aren't humans as if they were. So, when you put a little puppy dog in human clothes, and

  • you start talking to it like it's a person, you're "anthropomorphising" the little dog,

  • but it's an anthropomorphic behaviour to dress up a little puppy dog like that. Very long,

  • complicated words, I know. But we can break it down a little bit more. When you see "ic"

  • on the end, it means it's an adjective and we're describing something. So, when we come

  • back we'll look at the next Greek roots... Greek words I want to show you.

  • Let's take a look at more Greek words in English. We'll start with words with "phone" or "phoney"

  • in them. Of course, we've got the "phone" that we use, and this root means "sound".

  • "Phone" is the informal word for "telephone". And this word: "cacophony", I remember...

  • I'll never forget this word because when I was at school, we wrote... You know, you write

  • stories. I think I was quite young when this happened, and somebody else's story was read

  • out, and she used the word "cacophony" in it, and I was so jealous. I was like:

  • "That's a really long word and you sound really clever", so I think I tried to, like, use it in every

  • single story I write after then. But it means, like, having very loud, different sounds that

  • go together, and it's like... It's an unpleasant sort of noise, basically.

  • So, anyway, I won't forget that word.

  • Also, I remember that learning this part of the word means string when I was at school

  • as well, because "poly", we see this in lots of words, like: "polyester" is a kind of plastic,

  • or when you... When you go to the shop and they give you a plastic bag, that one's "polythene",

  • a polythene bag. And I remember being at school and my science teacher telling me that "poly"

  • means string. Because if you think about how plastic is made, it's different atoms stringing

  • together. You know what? I'm getting a bit science... We're talking about the English

  • language, here. Anyway, so it's... Yeah, "string" meaning different things together, basically,

  • so that's what all plastics are. Here's a word: "polyamorous", so we've got more than

  • one, and this root, "amor" is related to love, and what this word means is relationships

  • where they're, like, open relationships, and the people can have more than one partner,

  • polyamorous love; different lovers.

  • Looking on this side for more technological words, we've got "tele", we already looked...

  • Already mentioned "telephone", but the "tele" part means distant or far away. So, we have

  • "telephone", you know, communicating with someone who's not physically near you, someone

  • who's far away. "Telepathy" is also communicating with someone who is not with you. Actually,

  • no, they can be with you, but it's just through the mind communication. And "teleport" which,

  • as far as I know, hasn't been invented yet, but it would be really cool, it's when you

  • can travel to one place, just like that basically, to be in a different place. You don't need

  • planes, you don't need buses, you don't need Oyster cards. You can just go, using a teleport.

  • But we haven't managed to invent that one yet.

  • And "micro", this root means small. So, we've got "microchip", you find these in laptops,

  • any kind of electronic devices where all the... All the information... This is, again, like

  • a science lesson. I'm not going to explain what a microchip is, except that it makes

  • electronic things work, I think is a good way to explain it. And "microcosm" means something

  • small within something bigger. So, one way people talk about it, mostly I find is when

  • talking about the weather, so like in the UK, we don't have many places with good weather,

  • but some places are described as being microcosms, like some particular beaches are more... Seem

  • to be sunnier than general... General places in England. Not as much rain, and things like

  • that, so those places would be described as microcosms of the bigger... You know, the

  • surrounding climate, which is generally rainy.

  • We can also thank the Greeks for analytical words. Like, they were, they were measuring

  • things, probably weren't... We weren't measuring things then, I don't know. But yeah, so, from

  • the metric system, we have the word "kilo" and related words. This means a thousand of

  • something. So, a "kilometre" is 1,000 metres, and "kilogram" is 1,000 grams. So, this one

  • is for distance, and this one is for measurement.

  • Then you've probably seen "geo" in some words, and that root means the earth and things related

  • to the planet where we live. So, we've got "geography", which is another school science.

  • It's about learning about our world, and how it's made up. And "geology", which is the

  • study of rocks, stones, that kind of thing. So, yeah, here are some Greek words for you.

  • No... Just paying attention to roots can really help you develop your vocabulary, you just

  • start to guess things, you don't have to check the meaning of every word that you encounter.

  • You can go to the engVid website, do a quiz on this lesson, test out your vocabulary brain power.

  • And if you like this lesson, please subscribe.

  • I've got all different kinds of lessons on my engVid channel; not just about really long words that you might not ever use when you're speaking.

  • I've also got my personal channel, and there's lots and lots

  • of videos on my personal channel, so you need to go and check that out, too. And yeah, I'm

  • finished, so I'm going to go and

  • swallow a dictionary now, and learn some really complicated words. So, see ya later.

  • Bye.

Hi, everyone. I'm Jade. Today we're talking about Greek words in English, and I'm not

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