Roots and Derivatives


1. aud(it) (hear): audience, auditorium, audition, audiovisual

2. avi (bird): aviation, aviculture, aviatrix, avifauna

3. belli(i) (war): rebellion, rebel, belligerent, postbellum

4. ben(e) (good, well): benefit, benevolent, benediction, benfice, benison

Word List

1. antebellum a: before the war, especially the American Civil War, typical of how things were before any war.
- I attended the conventions of the antebellum South.

2. audit v, n: to attend a class only as a listener, not for credit; to check or examine a company's financial records; n, the process of making such an examination.
- Companies must have their accounts audited.

3. auditory a: related to the sense of hearing.
- We learned about the auditory nerves.

4. avian a: characteristic of or pertaining to birds.
- We were learning about avian tuberculosis.

5. aviary n: an elaborate structure for housing birds.
- We built a bird house for an aviary.

6. avionics n: the technology of (using) electronic equipment in aviation, missilery, and space flight.
- I want to study avionics.

7. bellicose a: eager to fight or quarrel; hostile.
- The current dispute has excited bellicose passions.

8. belligerency n: the condition of warlike hostility; a hostile action.
- Tom screamed and shook his fist at the waiter in a belligerent way.

9. benefactor n: a person who gives another (financial) help; a patron.
- Bill Gates is a huge benefactor in many charities.

10. beneficiary n: one who receives a benefit (of payment), as from an insurance policy.
- When my neighbor's husband died, she collected the payment from his insurance because she was the beneficiary.

11. benign a: not malignant; gracious and kindly; good-natured.
- What got her MRI back it was benign.

12. inaudible a: unable to be hear.
- The intercom sounds inaudible.