Study guides › Level 8 · Academic Words

Parts of science words

Level 8 · Word Parts · for questions like “In ‘photosynthesis’, what does ‘photo’ mean?”

💡 The idea

Science words are built from Greek and Latin parts. If you know a part from one word, you know it in all of them. Think of another word with the same part.

✏️ Worked examples

1. photosynthesis, “photo”: photograph, photon. Photo means light: plants make food using light.

2. thermometer, “meter”: speedometer, centimeter. Meter means measure.

3. carnivore, “carn”: carnival once meant giving up meat. Carn means meat.

⚡ Handy ones

⚠️ Watch out

• Don’t answer with the whole word’s meaning. In “thermometer”, meter is measure; therm is the heat part.

🎯 Try these

1. In “telescope”, what does “tele” mean?
2. In “aquarium”, what does “aqua” mean?

Answers: 1) far 2) water

This guide is also in the 10WordsQ app: tap “📖 Study guide” after a question.