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