The etymology of a word is the history of its meaning and where it came from. Knowing the origin of a word can help to understand it and spell it.
The following table contains a number of words that the English language has taken from Greek.
| Greek word | Meaning |
| acro | high |
| anthrop | human |
| auto | self |
| bio | life |
| cardi | heart |
| geo | earth |
| graph | draw or write |
| logy (or ology) | study |
| mono | one |
| neuro | nerve |
| phobia | fear |
| photo | light |
| poly | many |
| psych | mind |
If we know these Greek words we can understand and spell many of the words we use today.
For example, the word autobiography uses three of the Greek words in the table. We can break it down into auto + bio + graphy (self + life + write). If you write an autobiography you are writing the story of your own life.
In this worksheet you can practise spelling words containing the Greek words in the table. Try to remember the words, but don't forget that you can look back at the introduction if you get stuck.
