GRE 词根：50 个高产词根，解码 500+ GRE 单词

Most GRE study plans hand you a list of 3,000 words and tell you to memorize them. That approach fights your memory instead of using it. The truth is that GRE vocabulary is not random: loquacious, circumlocution, and interlocutor are one root — loqu, "to speak" — wearing three disguises. Learn the root, and the words stop being strangers.

Below are the 50 roots with the highest GRE-word density — the same 50 that anchor our GRE Root Course. For each, you get the core meaning and the actual GRE-level words it generates (not the easy family members you already know).

How to use this list

Don't try to memorize all 50 in one sitting. Study 5 roots a day, and for each root, cover the example words and try to explain how the root's meaning survives inside each one. That act of reconstruction — not re-reading — is what makes a root stick.

Roots of speech, naming & logic

loqu — to speak

• loquacious — talkative to a fault
• circumlocution (circum + loqu) — talking around a point; evasive wordiness
• grandiloquent (grand + loqu) — speaking in a pompous, lofty style
• interlocutor (inter + loqu) — a person taking part in a dialogue

claim / clam — to cry out

• clamor — a loud, insistent outcry
• declaim — to speak rhetorically, often pompously
• reclaim — to call back; to recover

log — word, reason; study of

• eulogy (eu + log) — "good words" spoken in praise
• tautology — needless repetition of the same idea in different words
• analogous — corresponding in a way that reveals a parallel

nomin / nym — name

• misnomer (mis + nomin) — a wrong or unsuitable name
• ignominious (ig + nomin) — deserving loss of one's good name; shameful
• pseudonym (pseudo + nym) — a false name

sign — mark, sign

• consign — to hand over; to assign to an unwelcome position
• signify — to be a sign of; to mean

Roots of motion & going

ced / cess — to go, to yield

• unprecedented (un + pre + ced) — never done before
• antecedent (ante + ced) — a thing that goes before
• accede — to yield or agree

gress — to step, to walk

• transgress (trans + gress) — to step across a limit; to violate
• digress (di + gress) — to step away from the main subject

it — to go

• transient (trans + it) — passing quickly; short-lived
• itinerant — traveling from place to place

ven / vent — to come

• advent (ad + vent) — an arrival, especially of something important
• contravene (contra + ven) — to come against; to conflict with

via / vi — way, road

• trivial (tri + via) — literally "three roads"; commonplace, trifling
• deviate (de + via) — to depart from an established course

Roots of sending, pushing & carrying

miss / mit — to send

• surmise (sur + mise) — to guess from slim evidence
• intermittent (inter + mit) — stopping and starting at intervals

pel / puls — to push, to drive

• dispel (dis + pel) — to drive away; to scatter
• compelling (com + pel) — driving one forward; forcefully convincing

tra / tract — to pull, to draw

• intractable (in + tract) — not able to be pulled into line; stubborn
• distraught (dis + tra) — pulled apart emotionally; deeply agitated

gest — to carry, to bear

• exaggerate (ex + ag + ger) — to carry beyond the truth; to overstate
• ingest (in + gest) — to carry inward; to take in

mov / mot — to move

• commotion (com + mot) — a state of agitated movement
• demote (de + mot) — to move down in rank

Roots of holding, placing & giving

cap / cip — to take, to seize

• incipient (in + cip) — just beginning to take form
• precept (pre + cept) — a rule taken as a guide to conduct

tain / ten — to hold

• tenacious (ten) — holding firmly; persistent
• tenet — a principle firmly held

pos / pon — to place, to put

• juxtapose (juxta + pos) — to place side by side
• repository (re + pos) — a place where things are stored

sit / sid / sed — to sit, to settle

• insidious (in + sid) — lying in wait; treacherous
• sedentary (sed) — settled; marked by much sitting

dit / don — to give

• condone (con + don) — to give tacit approval to a wrong
• anecdote (an + ec + dot) — a short "not given out" story; a brief account

Roots of turning, folding & twisting

vers / vert — to turn

• subvert (sub + vert) — to turn from beneath; to undermine
• aversion (a + vers) — a turning away; strong dislike

plic / ply — to fold, to bend

• implicit (im + plic) — folded in; implied rather than stated
• complicity (com + plic) — a folding-together in wrongdoing

tort — to twist

• tortuous (tort) — full of twists; complex or devious
• contort (con + tort) — to twist out of shape

circ — circle, around

• circuitous (circ) — roundabout; indirect
• circumscribe (circum + scrib) — to draw a line around; to restrict

strain / strict / string — to draw tight

• stringent (string) — tightly binding; strict
• astringent (a + string) — drawing tight; sharp or severe

Roots of seeing, feeling & living

sp / spec / spic — to look, to observe

• conspicuous (con + spic) — standing out to the eye
• perspicacious (per + spic) — seeing through clearly; keenly perceptive

sent / sens — to feel, to perceive

• sentient (sent) — able to perceive or feel
• dissent (dis + sent) — to feel apart; to disagree

path — feel, suffer

• antipathy (anti + path) — a deep-seated feeling against
• pathos — a quality that evokes pity or sorrow

spir — to breathe

• aspire (a + spir) — to breathe toward; to seek eagerly
• transpire (trans + spir) — to breathe across; to become known

viv / vit — to live

• vivacious (viv) — full of life
• viable (vi) — able to live; workable

Roots of standing, ending & closing

st / stit — to stand

• obstinate (ob + st) — standing against; stubborn
• destitute (de + stit) — left standing without; utterly lacking

fin — end, limit

• definitive (de + fin) — settling a matter finally
• finite (fin) — having limits

bar — bar, barrier

• embargo (em + bar) — an official barrier to trade
• debar (de + bar) — to shut out; to exclude

clud / clus — to close, to shut

• preclude (pre + clud) — to shut out beforehand; to prevent
• recluse (re + clus) — one shut away from society

stinct / stig — to prick, to goad

• instigate (in + stig) — to goad into action
• stigma — a mark of disgrace

Roots of making, birth & the hand

fac / fic — to make, to do

• prolific (pro + fic) — producing abundantly
• facile (fac) — easily done; superficial

gen — birth, kind

• ingenuous (in + gen) — inborn frankness; naive and honest
• engender (en + gen) — to give birth to; to cause

man — hand

• manifest (man + fest) — plain to the hand or eye; obvious
• emancipate (e + man + cip) — to take out of the hand of; to free

press — to press, to squeeze

• repress (re + press) — to press back; to hold down
• compress (com + press) — to press together

mono — single, one

• monolithic (mono + lith) — formed of a single massive whole
• monotonous (mono + ton) — unvaried in tone; tediously uniform

Roots of equality, worth & the middle

equ — equal, even

• equivocate (equ + voc) — to use "equal voices"; to speak ambiguously to mislead
• equanimity (equ + anim) — evenness of mind; composure

val — strong, worth

• ambivalent (ambi + val) — pulled equally in two directions
• convalesce (con + val) — to grow strong again

par — equal; to prepare

• disparate (dis + par) — fundamentally unequal; distinct in kind
• disparity (dis + par) — a noticeable inequality

medi — middle

• intermediary (inter + medi) — one who acts in the middle
• mediate (medi) — to intervene between parties

ple / plet — to fill, full

• replete (re + plet) — filled abundantly
• plethora — an excess; an overfull amount

Roots of seeking, stretching & hanging

pet / peti — to seek, to strive

• impetus (im + pet) — a driving force
• petulant (pet) — peevishly demanding; irritable

tend / tens — to stretch

• contend (con + tend) — to strive; to assert
• pretentious (pre + tend) — stretching a claim beyond merit

pend / pens — to weigh, to hang

• propensity (pro + pens) — a natural inclination
• pensive (pens) — deeply, weightily thoughtful

lud / lus — to play, to mock

• elusive (e + lus) — slipping away from grasp
• allude (al + lud) — to refer to indirectly

sequ / secu — to follow

• obsequious (ob + sequ) — following servilely; fawning
• consequential (con + sequ) — following as a result; significant

From decoding to remembering

Reading this list once will not move these roots into long-term memory. Two things do: spaced retrieval (meeting each root again days later and recalling it before you re-read) and generation (building the meaning of a new word from its parts yourself). A flat list can't do either for you.

That's exactly what our GRE course is built to do — every root taught through its real GRE words, every lesson closing with a quiz that retries your misses until you get them right, every unit ending with a review that pits easily-confused roots against each other.

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Keep going

• Browse every root in depth on the Roots page — click any root for its full word family and pronunciation.
• New to the method? Start with What Are Root Words?
• Preparing for other exams? See our TOEFL and IELTS root guides.