Earth Science Vocabulary

Vocabulary is the total words used, understood, and at the command of a person or a group of people. Understanding vocabulary is essential when you are trying to communicate something.

To understand and appreciate earth science it is necessary to know the vocabulary of this branch of science. To help you learn this vocabulary there is a simple system that can be used to learn the meaning of words. Here’s how the system works:

Many words in science consist of three parts: a prefix, a stem or root, and a suffix. Here’s an example.

G E O M O R P H O L O G Y

Prefix Root Suffix

You can figure out the meaning of this word if you know the meaning of each of the three parts. As you will learn, each of the parts has these meaning:

Geo – means “Earth” Morph – means “form or shape” Ology – means “study of”

So, the word geomorphology refers to the branch of earth science that “studies the forms and shapes of the earth’s surface.”

At first if would seem that our task has become more difficult rather than simpler. We now have three things to memorize – a prefix, root, and suffix – instead of a single word. The thing that makes this system easier is that many prefixes, roots, and suffixes are used over and over again. Once you learn them, you can use them to analyze other new words.

NOTE: Many of the roots listed can be used as prefixes and/or suffixes. Prefixes and suffixes can also appear as roots.


Prefixes that stand for Numbers

Prefix Meaning

semi-, hemi- half

uni-, mono- one

di-, bi- two

tri- three

quadra-, tetra- four

quinqu-, penta- five

sex-, hex- six

sept-, hepta- seven

octa- eight

nona- nine

deca- ten

centi-, hecto- hundred

milli- thousand

mega- million (or very much)

Common Prefixes

Prefix Meaning

anti- against

circum- around

con- together

dia- across

epi- outside

extra- beyond

fore- before

in- not

inter- between

iso- same

meta- change

multi- many

neo- new

paleo- old, ancient

peri- around

poly- many

post- after

pre- before (time)

pro- before(place)

re- again

retro- backward

sub- under, below

super- above, better than

trans- across, through

ultra- more than

un- not

Common Roots

Prefix Meaning

anthrop- human

aqua- water

astra-, astro- star

atmo- vapor, gas

auto- self

bar-, baro- pressure

bio- life

centro- center

cosmo- universe

cyclo- round

dynam- force

eco- environment

geo- earth

gram-, graph- drawn, written

helio- sun

hetero- different

homo- same

hydro- water

litho- stone

luna- moon

macro, magn- large, great

meso- middle

meter- measure

micro- small

morph- form, shape

petro- rock

phon- sound

photo- light

scop- see

seismo- earthquake

sphere- round, layer of the earth

spect- sight, view

strato- horizontal

struct- build

tele- distant

terr- earth

therm- heat

tox- poison

umbr- shadow

zoo- animal

Common Suffixes

Prefix Meaning

able-, idle-, ile- capable of

al-, ary- pertaining to, belonging to

eer-, ist- person who is doing something

ic- having to do with

oid- like, resembling

ology, ogy, nomy- study of

ize- to cause to happen

cide- death

ism- belief in

ion-, ment- result of an action