A few days ago we visited Acrocorinth, the massive fortress rising above the ancient city of Corinth. Athens has the Acropolis. That got me thinking about prefixes. What does acro mean?

While thinking about the word acropolis, I realized that the second part of the word comes from the Greek word πόλη, which means city.

I wondered what words I could learn from suffixes and prefixes of English words that are derived from Greek. I've been chatting with my favourite AI chatbot, and here are some examples. These should be easy to add to my working vocabulary now.

Examples of Greek Words That Appear in English

Greek English English words that help
πόλη city acropolis, metropolis
μικρός small microscope
μεγάλος big / large megaphone
ζωή life zoology
ζώο animal zoo
βιβλίο book bibliography
φως light photo, photograph
φωνή voice telephone, phonics
γραφή writing biography
όνομα name anonymous, synonym
χρόνος time chronology
τόπος place topology
κόσμος world cosmos
θερμός hot thermometer
καρδιά heart cardiac, cardiology
γη earth / land geography
παλαιός ancient / old paleolithic
κρύος cold cryogenic
άκρο high point / edge acropolis, acrobat,
μέτρο measure thermometer, geometry
λόγος word / study biology, theology
φιλία love philanthropy
τύπος model / type prototype, typography
δρόμος course / track aerodrome, hippodrome
μορφή shape / form metamorphosis, amorphous
κύκλος circle bicycle, cycle
νεκρός dead necrosis, necrology
αστέρι star astronomy, astronaut
φυτό plant phytoplankton
ψυχή soul / mind psychology, psychedelic

Happy language learning!

Note: While most posts on this site discuss language learning more generally, some posts will focus specifically on Greek. These posts are tagged “Greek.”

See the other posts in this series here: All Greek to Me