Classified Taxonomy of Words
Pillaging Vocab from Asia
Dividing Words to find their Roots
It's all Greek to me!
Etymo-lock-in!
100

The word “biology” comes from Greek: “bios” means life, and “-logy” means this.


Hint: What you do when you’re curious!

What is the study of?

100

“Karaoke” comes from Japanese meaning this kind of “orchestra.”

What’s missing when no one is playing?

What is empty?

100

“Percent” comes from Latin “per centum,” meaning this.

What is by the hundred?

100

The root “aqua” in “aquarium” means this.

What is water?

100

“Library” comes from Latin “liber,” meaning this.

What is book?

200

“Photosynthesis” comes from Greek: “photo” means light, “synthesis” means this.


Hint: Like building Lego bricks!

What is putting together?

200

"Ke-tsiap" is a fermented fish sauce from China, but the British borrowed and mispronounced this word for their own vegetable (maybe fruit) based sauce.


Hint: Great with some McDonald's snacks

What is ketchup?

200

"Triangle” comes from Latin “tri” and “angulus,” meaning this.

What is three angles?

200

Synonym” comes from Greek “syn” meaning together, and “onoma” meaning this.

Hint: We all have this to differentiate with each other

What is name?

200

The word “notebook” combines “note,” meaning to record, and “book,” which comes from Old English meaning this.


Hint: It’s something made of pages.

What is a written record or document?

300

“Dinosaur” comes from Greek “deinos” and “sauros,” meaning this.


Hint: They weren’t all scary… but the name sure was!

What is terrible lizard?

300

“Bamboo” came from this Southeast Asian language group.


Hint: Think of where we are~

What is Malay/Indonesian?

300

The word “geometry” comes from Greek “geo” meaning earth and “metron” meaning this.


Hint: You use it to find length!

Answer: What is measure?

300

The word “grammar” comes from Greek “gramma,” which first meant this.


Hint: It’s more formal than an email

What is a letter?

300

“Pen” comes from Latin “penna,” which meant this originally.


Hint: Birds had them before students did!

What is feather/quill?

400

“Atom” means this in Greek, because it was once thought to be uncuttable.


Hint: You can't do this with zero

What is indivisible?

400

“Bungalow” comes from Hindi “bangla,” meaning this style of house.


Hint: Think Bengal!

What is a house in the Bengal style?

400

“Parallel” comes from Greek meaning "lines that do this."


Hint: Definitely not walking in front or behind

What is run side by side?

400

The word “metaphor” comes from Greek meaning “to carry” this.


Hint: Think of carrying an idea from one thing to another or defining something.

What is meaning?

400

“Teacher” comes from Old English “tǣcan,” meaning this action.


Hint: no, it's not teach.

What is to show/point out?

500

The word “oxygen” comes from Greek “oxys,” meaning sharp or acid, and “genes,” meaning this.

Hint: Think about what it “creates.”

What is producer/former?

500

This Sanskrit word that we use often in English means "a descendent or incarnation of a god."

Hint: Everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked

What is "avatar"?

500

“Calculus” comes from the Latin word for this small object used for counting.


Hint: It’s found on the beach!

What is pebble?

500

The word “monologue” comes from Greek “mono” meaning one, and “logos” meaning this.


Hint: It’s what a person delivers alone on stage.

What is speech/word?

*note, logos can also mean knowledge~

500

“School” comes from Greek “scholē,” which surprisingly meant this first.


Hint: Definitely not homework!

What is leisure/free time?

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