B. Foundations of Language · Foundations: Speaking, Listening, Words and Fluency

Greek and Latin Roots for Grade 7: Know, Follow, Shut, Judge, Run, People, Wise and City

B2.1 B2.2 A3.1About 45 minutes

Learning goals

I can read and understand words built on Grade 7 Latin roots: cogn, sequ, clud/clus, jud/jus, fid, cur/curs and pop/publ.
I can read and understand words built on Grade 7 Greek roots: anthrop, soph, crypt, polis/polit, techn, nom/nomy and ortho.
I can combine roots with prefixes and suffixes I know to analyze unfamiliar words in context.
I can check a root's meaning so I don't over-peel.

Words to know

root
A word part, often from Latin or Greek, that carries the core meaning of a word family.

word family
A group of words that share a root or base, like include, exclude and conclusion.

prejudice
An opinion formed before knowing the facts, often an unfair one about a group of people.

philanthropy
Giving time or money to help people; literally, love of humankind.

autonomy
The right or ability to govern or make decisions for yourself.

orthography
A language's spelling system; literally, correct writing.

Remember from earlier grades

In Grade 5 you learned roots like duc/duct (lead), ject (throw), mit/miss (send), chron (time) and hydr (water). In Grade 6 you added vert (turn), spir (breathe), ten/tain (hold), ced/cess (go), cap/cept (take), aero (air), morph (shape), nym (name), phil (love) and more. You also know chameleon prefixes like ob- → oc-. In Grade 7, you'll add 14 more roots that unlock words in science, history, geography and the news.

Let's start with a puzzle

What do a cursor on your screen, an excursion to the museum and the current in a river have in common?

They all come from the Latin root cur/curs, meaning run. A cursor runs across the screen. An excursion is a trip where you run out of your usual place. A current is water (or electricity) that runs. Once you know one root, a whole family of words opens up.

A word web for the Latin root cur/curs (run): current, cursor, excursion, occur, recur and concur.

Latin root	Means	Examples
cogn	know	recognize (know again), cognitive (about thinking and knowing), incognito (not known: in disguise)
sequ, secu	follow	sequence, consequence (what follows from an action), sequel, consecutive (following one after another)
clud, clus	shut, close	include, exclude (shut out), conclusion, exclusive
jud, jus, jur	judge, law, right	judge, prejudice (judging before), justice, jury
fid	trust, faith	confident, confide (share a secret with someone you trust), fidelity (faithfulness)
cur, curr, curs	run	current, currency (money that runs from person to person), cursor, excursion, occur, concur (to agree: run together)
pop, publ	people	population, popular, public, publish (make known to people), republic

Latin roots for Grade 7. Notice oc·cur: the chameleon prefix ob- becomes oc- before c.

Greek root	Means	Examples
anthrop	human	anthropology (the study of humans and their cultures), philanthropy (love of humankind: giving to help people)
soph	wise, wisdom	philosophy (love of wisdom), sophisticated
crypt	hidden, secret	encrypt (hide information in a code), cryptic (puzzling, with a hidden meaning)
polis, polit	city, citizen	metropolis (a very large city), politics, politician, cosmopolitan
techn	art, skill, craft	technology, technique, technical
nom, nomy	law, rule, management	astronomy (the laws of the stars), economy (managing a household, then a country), autonomy (self-rule)
ortho	straight, correct	orthodontist (straightens teeth: odont = tooth), orthography (correct writing: a spelling system)

Greek roots for Grade 7.

Roots across your subjects

Geography: population density, a metropolis like Toronto or Montréal, a country's economy.
History: consequences of events, justice, politics, prejudice, technology that changed daily life.
Science: an electric current, cognitive (thinking) skills, astronomy.
Daily life: encrypted messages keep your information private online.

Autonomy comes up when Canadians talk about government. For example, many First Nations, Métis and Inuit communities and governments in Canada continue to work for self-government, which means more autonomy over decisions that affect their own people.

Grade 7 roots turn up in every subject. Can you find the root in each word (for example polis in metropolis, sequ in consequence)?

Worked example

Let's analyze three words in context

Figure out the bold words:

The museum's new exhibit was planned by an anthropologist.
Our class talked about how prejudice can lead to unfair treatment.
English orthography has many silent letters.

an·throp·ologist: anthrop = human; -ologist = a person who studies. An anthropologist studies humans and their cultures. That fits a museum exhibit.
pre·jud·ice: pre- = before; jud = judge. Prejudice = judging before you know the facts. The sentence says it leads to unfair treatment, which fits.
ortho·graphy: ortho = correct; -graphy = writing. Orthography = correct writing, or a language's spelling system. The clue silent letters (a spelling topic) confirms it.

anthropologist = a scientist who studies humans and their cultures; prejudice = judging before knowing the facts; orthography = a spelling system.

Just for fun

**Why is the root cur always out of breath?**

Because it means run, and it keeps running into new words: current, cursor, excursion, occur, recur...

Don't over-peel

Cure has nothing to do with run (it comes from a word for care). Popcorn isn't about people, and police and policy do come from polis, but polish doesn't. When in doubt, test the meaning and check a dictionary's word history (etymology).

Hands-on activity

Root detective

You need: a newspaper, news website or magazine (chosen with a grown-up), a highlighter or pencil, and paper.

Make a chart with three columns: Word, Root and meaning, What the word means here.
Hunt for words with any of this lesson's roots. Good places: headlines, sports pages, science and technology sections.
Find at least 8 words. Fill in the chart for each. Use the sentence around the word to check the meaning.
Circle the word you think is hardest. Explain it to a family member using its parts.
Bonus: make a word web (like the cur/curs web above) for one root with at least five words.

What to look for: correct roots (not over-peeled), and a meaning that fits the sentence. Likely finds: population, public, technology, politics, economy, consequences, include, concluded, justice, recognize, currency.

Your turn

What does the root cogn mean? Give two words.

Use the root to explain consecutive in: It snowed for three consecutive days.

What does exclude mean? Use the word parts.

Which root means people? Give a word.

What does a philanthropist do? Use the roots.

A message is encrypted. What has happened to it?

Explain astronomy with its roots.

More practice: warm-up

Which root means run?

Which root means hidden?

Which root means wise?

Which root means trust?

Which root means city?

More practice: on your own

Peel occur and explain why it has a double c.

A metropolis is a very large city. Use the roots to explain where the word comes from.

What is the difference between confident and confidential, using fid?

Is cure in the cur (run) family? How could you check?

Use technology and technique in one sentence each, and explain what they share.

Challenge

Analyze unrecognizable completely.

Use roots to explain the difference between a sequel and a consequence.

Explain how autonomy is built, and use it in a sentence about a Grade 7 student.

Check your understanding

Quiz

What does the root sequ mean?

Prejudice literally means...

Which word uses the root meaning people?

Which word means the study of humans and their cultures?

Which word does not belong to the cur/curs (run) family?

An orthodontist helps to...

Something cryptic is...

For parents and teachers

Big idea (B2.1, B2.2, A3.1): Grade 7 students use generalized knowledge of morphemes to read complex words and analyze new words in context. Knowing high-use Latin and Greek roots helps students in every subject, especially history, geography and science, where many technical words are built from these parts.

How to help at home:

Pick a "root of the day" and see how many family words you can find.
When a news story uses a root word (economy, population, consequences), pause and ask your child to explain it from its parts.
Look up etymologies together in an online dictionary.

Common difficulties:

Over-peeling (seeing cur in cure). Test the meaning, then check.
Forgetting chameleon prefixes, which hide roots (oc·cur, ac·cept).
Knowing the root but not the full word. Always finish by putting the word back into its sentence.