st

The most philosophical member. ex- (out) + sistere (to stand) = 'to stand out.' To exist is literally to stand out from nothingness into being. That's why 'Does God exist?' feels heavier than 'Is God there?' — exist asks whether something has stood out into reality at all.

re- (back, against) + sistere (to make a stand) = 'to stand against.' Picture planting your feet and refusing to be pushed: that single image covers resisting temptation, resisting arrest, and a material resisting heat. The noun resistance keeps the picture — a force pushing back.

con- (together) + statuere (to set up) = 'to set up together.' What constitutes a thing is what is 'set up together' to make it. From this one verb come constitution (the founding set-up of a nation) and constituent (each part set up to form the whole, and each voter who sets up the government).

From Greek syn- (together) + histēmi (to stand) = 'a standing-together,' a set of parts set up to stand as one whole. This is the Greek cousin of the Latin st- words: a system is many pieces made to stand together and work as one.

circum- (around) + stāre (to stand) = 'the things standing around.' Your circumstances are not the event itself but the conditions standing in a ring around it, pressing on it. Hence 'under the circumstances': you are surrounded by those standing conditions.