NOM comes from the Latin word for "name." A nominee is a person "named"--or nominated--to run for or serve in office. A binomial ("two names") is the scientific name for a species: Felis catus for the house cat, for example. A polynomial, with "many names," is an algebra expression involving several terms: 2x^2 + 9y - z^3, for instance.

Word Phonetic Audio
nominal ˈnä-mə-nᵊl
nomenclature ˈnō-mən-ˌklā-chər
ignominious ˌig-nə-ˈmi-nē-əs
misnomer ˌmis-ˈnō-mər

PATER/PATR comes from both the Greek and the Latin word for "father." So a patron, for example, is someone who assumes a fatherly role toward an institution or project or individual, giving moral and financial support.

Word Phonetic Audio
patrician pə-ˈtri-shən
patriarchy ˈpā-trē-ˌär-kē
expatriate ek-ˈspā-trē-ˌāt
paternalistic pə-ˌtər-nə-ˈli-stik

LEGA comes from the Latin legare, meaning "to appoint" or "to send as a deputy." The same root actually shows up in such words as legal--but how the law connects with sending deputies can get awfully complicated and probably isn't worth going into.

Word Phonetic Audio
legate ˈle-gət
legacy ˈle-gə-sē
delegation ˌde-li-ˈgā-shən
relegate ˈre-lə-ˌgāt

GREG comes from the Latin grex, "herd" or "flock." Bees, starlings, cows--any creatures that like to live together in flocks or herds--are called gregarious, and the same word is used for people who enjoy companionship and are happiest when they're in the middle of a rowdy herd.

Word Phonetic Audio
aggregate ˈa-gri-gət
congregation ˌkäŋ-gri-ˈgā-shən
egregious i-ˈgrē-jəs
segregate ˈse-gri-ˌgāt

FLU comes from the Latin verb fluere, "to flow." So a flume is a narrow gorge with a stream flowing through it. A fluent speaker is one from whom words flows easily. Influence originally referred to an invisible fluid that was believed to flow from the stars and to affect the actions of humans. A mysterious outbreak of disease in 15th-century Italy led Italians to blame it on the stars' influenza--and the name stuck.

Word Phonetic Audio
affluence ˈa-(ˌ)flü-ən(t)s
effluent ˈe-ˌflü-ənt
confluence ˈkän-ˌflü-ən(t)s
mellifluous me-ˈli-flə-wəs

PREHEND/PREHENS comes from the Latin verb prehendere, "to seize." Most of the English words where it appears are closely related to the ones discussed below.

Word Phonetic Audio
prehensile prē-ˈhen(t)-səl
apprehend ˌa-pri-ˈhend
comprehend ˌkäm-pri-ˈhend
reprehensible ˌre-pri-ˈhen(t)-sə-bəl

TEMPER comes from the Latin verb temperare, "to moderate or keep within limits" or "to mix." Most of the world's people live in the temperate zone--that is, the zone where the temperature is moderate, between the hot tropics and the icy Arctic and Antarctic Circles. It's less easy to see how we get temperature from this root; the word actually used to refer to the mixing of differnet basic elements in the body, and only slowly came to mean how hot or cold that body was.

Word Phonetic Audio
temper ˈtem-pər
temperance ˈtem-p(ə-)rən(t)s
intemperate (ˌ)in-ˈtem-p(ə-)rət
distemper dis-ˈtem-pər

PURG comes from the Latin verb purgare, "to clean or cleanse." Almost all the English words where it shows up are closely to those related below.

Word Phonetic Audio
purge ˈpərj
expurgate ˈek-spər-ˌgāt
purgative ˈpər-gə-tiv
purgatory ˈpər-gə-ˌtȯr-ē

MILL means either "a thousand" or "a thousandth." A millennium is a thousand years, and a million is a thousand thousands. But a milligram is a thousandth of a gram, a milliliter a thousandth of a liter, and a millimeter a thousandth of a meter.

Word Phonetic Audio
millefleur (ˌ)mēl-ˈflər
millenarianism ˌmi-lə-ˈner-ē-ə-ˌni-zəm
millipede ˈmi-lə-ˌpēd
millisecond ˈmi-lə-ˌse-kənd

HEMI/SEMI means "half." Hemi- comes from Greek, semi- from Latin. A hemisphere is half a sphere, and a semicircle is half a circle. (The French prefix demi-, which probably developed from Latin as well, also means "half"--as in demitasse, a little after-dinner coffee cup half the size of a regular cup.)

Word Phonetic Audio
semitone ˈse-mē-ˌtōn
semicolon ˈse-mē-ˌkō-lən
hemiplegia ˌhe-mi-ˈplē-j(ē-)ə
semiconductor ˌse-mē-kən-ˈdək-tər