In this lesson: Own the loqu/locut family — the talkative root behind a whole cluster of GRE speech words.
About This Root
The root loqu comes from the Latin verb loquī, "to speak" — but not just any speaking. Loquī meant to talk, to converse, to hold forth: the everyday act of opening your mouth and letting words out. Its past participle locūtus gives the alternate spelling locut, which surfaces in the noun forms.
What makes this family fascinating is that almost every member is really a comment on how someone speaks. The root sits in the middle, and the prefix tells you the style or direction of the talking:
- e- (out) + loquī → eloquent: speaking out so well that people are persuaded — fluent, polished, moving. The image is of words pouring out smoothly.
- con-/col- (together) + loquī → colloquial: the way people speak when they talk together casually — everyday, informal language. The same "together-talking" gives colloquium (a gathering where people speak together = a seminar), colloquy (a formal conversation), and colloquialism (an informal expression).
- inter- (between) + locūtus → interlocutor: the person who speaks between — your partner in a dialogue, the one on the other side of the conversation.
- soli- (alone) + loquī → soliloquy: speaking alone, to yourself — the theatrical device where a character voices private thoughts aloud (Hamlet's "To be or not to be").
- magni- (great, big) + loquī → magniloquent: using big, grand, pompous words — talking yourself up.
- -acious (tending to) on loquī → loquacious: tending to talk a lot — chatty to a fault.
- ob- (against) + loquī → obloquy: speaking against someone — public abuse, the disgrace that follows.
Notice the pattern: the root loqu never changes its core meaning ("speak"), and the prefix tells you the manner — speaking out well, speaking together casually, speaking alone, speaking too much, speaking against. The locut spelling appears in the smoother noun forms like elocution (the art of speaking) and locution (a particular way of saying something).
One thing worth knowing: loqu words tend to feel formal or literary in English. You won't hear "loquacious" at a bus stop — these are the words of essays, reviews, and exams.
Picture an eloquent speaker on a stage. Every loqu word is about a way of speaking: e-loquent speaks out beautifully, col-loquial is how we speak together casually, soli-loquy is speaking alone, and a loqu-acious friend just won't stop speaking. Root = speak; the prefix sets the style.
Focus words· 8
loqu (speak) + -acious (tending to, full of) = 'tending to speak a lot.' The -acious suffix (as in voracious, tenacious) signals excess, so loquacious tilts negative: not just talkative, but talkative to the point of being tiresome.
loquī (speak) + -acious (tending to) = 'tending to speak (a lot).' The -acious suffix (as in tenacious, voracious) signals an excess, so loquacious leans negative: not just talkative, but talkative to the point of being tiresome. A loquacious dinner guest is one who won't let anyone else get a word in.
Our loquacious neighbor can turn a quick hello into an hour-long chat.
After two glasses of wine he became surprisingly loquacious.
e- (out) + loqu (speak) + -ence (state) = the noun for eloquent: the quality of speaking out persuasively and beautifully.
The lawyer argued with such eloquence that the jury was spellbound.
There was real eloquence in the way she described her childhood.
col- (together, a form of con-) + loqu (speak) + -ial (relating to) = 'relating to speaking together.' When people talk together casually, they use everyday, informal language — and that register is what colloquial describes.
Colloquial is a neutral, descriptive term, not an insult. In linguistics it simply labels the register of casual conversation: 'gonna,' 'kids,' and 'a bunch of' are colloquial, while 'children' and 'a large number of' are formal. Calling something colloquial doesn't mean it's wrong — just that it belongs in speech, not in a thesis.
col- (together) + loquī (speak) = 'speaking together.' When people talk together informally, they don't use textbook grammar — they use casual, everyday language. That's colloquial: the register of conversation, not of writing. It's a neutral descriptive term in linguistics ('gonna' is colloquial), not an insult. The same 'together-talking' image gives colloquium, a gathering where scholars speak together.
"Gonna" is a colloquial form of "going to."
The textbook avoids colloquial expressions to keep the tone formal.
In loquacious and eloquence, the root loqu means…
inter- (between) + locut (spoken, from loquī's past participle) + -or (one who) = 'one who speaks between.' Your interlocutor is the person on the other side of a dialogue — the one you're talking with.
Interlocutor is a formal stand-in for 'the person I was talking to.' It shows up in academic, diplomatic, and journalistic writing — diplomats call their negotiating counterparts interlocutors. Note the -locut- spelling (from past participle locūtus), not -loqu-, which is why it sounds like 'locution' rather than 'colloquial.'
inter- (between) + locūtus (spoken) = 'one who speaks between.' Your interlocutor is simply the person you're talking with — the other side of a dialogue. It's a formal word, common in academic, diplomatic, and journalistic writing where 'the person I was talking to' would sound too plain. Note the -locut- spelling from the past participle, not -loqu-.
The professor treated each student as a serious interlocutor, not just a listener.
Diplomats need a reliable interlocutor on the other side to make progress.
circum- (around) + locu (speak, from Latin loquī) + -tion (act) = 'speaking around.' Instead of naming a thing directly, you talk around it — using a long phrase or vague hint. 'A person who delivers mail' is a circumlocution for 'mail carrier.'
circumlocution is the verbal twin of circumvent: instead of going around an obstacle, you go around a word. The locu inside it is the 'speak' root (as in eloquent, loquacious). People use circumlocution to be polite ('he passed away' rather than 'he died'), to be evasive (politicians dodging a yes/no), or simply out of wordiness. The image is always the same circle — talking around the point instead of straight at it.
Cut the circumlocution and just tell me what happened.
The report was full of circumlocution and said almost nothing.
e- (out) + locut (spoken, past participle of loquī) + -ion (act) = 'the act of speaking out.' Over time it narrowed to a specific skill: the trained art of clear pronunciation, projection, and delivery — what elocution lessons teach.
Elocution vs eloquence: both come from loquī, but eloquence is about persuasive content (moving an audience with what you say), while elocution is about mechanical delivery (how clearly and correctly you pronounce and project). You can have perfect elocution yet say nothing eloquent.
She took elocution lessons to lose her accent before the audition.
His careful elocution made every word easy to follow.
circum- (around) + locution (speaking) → "talking around the point instead of at it." Which word?
col- (together) + loqu (speak) + -y (noun) = 'a speaking-together' — a formal conversation. The plainest noun form of the col-loqu 'talk together' family.
The two leaders held a private colloquy before the summit.
The novel opens with a long colloquy between the rivals.
col- (together) + loqu (speak) + Latin noun ending -ium (place/event) = 'a place where people speak together' — a gathering for scholarly talk, i.e. a seminar.
The department holds a weekly colloquium where researchers present new work.
She was invited to speak at an international colloquium on linguistics.
Extended family · 8 words
See the root page for the full family.
Coach note
loqu (before vowels) and locut (in nouns) are one root: loqui, to speak. GRE loves this family because each word encodes a style of speaking: loquacious (too much), colloquial (casual), circumlocution (roundabout). Ask of every word: how is the speaking being done?
Related Roots
Both mean 'speak/say,' but dict (from dīcere) is about stating, declaring, pointing out with words: dictate, predict, verdict. loqu (from loquī) is about the manner of conversing or holding forth: eloquent, loquacious, colloquial. Quick test: a formal statement or pronouncement → dict; a comment on someone's talking style → loqu.
voc (from vocāre/vox) is about the voice and calling out: vocal, vocation, advocate. loqu is about conversational speech and speaking style. voc gives you the sound; loqu gives you the talk.
claim (from clāmāre) means to cry out or shout: exclaim, proclaim, clamor. It's louder and more forceful than loqu, which is conversational. Shouting/declaring loudly → claim; conversing or holding forth → loqu.
Practice
What does the root loqu/locut mean?