Surprising Words That Come From the Same Ancient Root
Etymologists study the roots of words, tracing back centuries to find where, for example, an English word might have originated in an ancient language. Many modern words share a common ancient root, or etymon. Sometimes these connections are obvious — for example, “portable” and “transport” both come from the Latin
verb portare, meaning “to carry.” Similarly, all words with a “bio-” prefix, whether the science of biology or a written biography, are related to the Latin bios, meaning “life.” Other words might share similar spellings, but the meanings are a little further apart. For example, “bicycle” and “cyclone” are based...
