Skip to main content

英语中数字的词根

 


本期谈谈使用频率较高的数字,其中包含了一些有用的词根,记住之后可以举一反三地学习。

1. One

One 这个单词不只是出现在英语中,通过元音变化可以变成其他语言中的“一”,比如:

德语:ein(‘o’ 变 ‘ei’,去‘e’。)
冰岛语:einn
瑞典语:en(‘o’ 变 ‘e’。)
荷兰语:een
法语:un,une(u = o)
西班牙、意大利语:uno,una(u = o, a = e),UNO 牌就是在最后一张牌需要喊出 “uno” 因此而得名。

Uni- 和 mono- 在英语中作为前缀,也表示“一”。

Unicycle,独轮车
Unicorn,独角兽
Unilateral,单边的
Unicellular,单细胞的

Monopoly(mono “一”,poly “卖”),一个人卖 \Rightarrow 垄断。
Monotone(tone,音调),一个音调 \Rightarrow 单调的(可表示函数单调性monotonicity)。

2. Two

Twin,twain,twice 都是与 “two” 直接相关的单词。

还有两个前缀可以表示“二”,bi- 和 di-

Bi-

Binary,二进制
Bliateral,双边的
Bicycle,二轮车
Bipedal,双足行走的,ped表示“足”,al 表形容词(p = f,t = d,发音类似故相等,参考格林定律)
Bilingual,两种语言的,lingua 表舌头,language 也由 lingua 变化而来

Di-

Dioxide,二氧化物
Diphthong,双元音
Duo,双人的
Double,双倍的
Deuce(deu = di,ce 表名词),平局,特指在 tennis 和 table tennis 等比赛中,出现需要连续赢两次的平手,比如网球的 40:40,乒乓球的10:10等。

注:这里 w 算作半元音,所以也可以元音变化。参考这篇文章

第一,我们称字母w和y为半元音字母,是因为这两个字母既可以用在音节的开头做辅音字母使用,又可以用在音节的末尾当元音使用。如,wet,water中的w在音节的开头元音字母前,它就是辅音字母,而few,now中的w在音节的末尾与其它元音字母构成字母组合发一个元音,few的发音是/ fju: /,now的读音是/ nau /。因此字母w的发音就相当于元音/u:/或 /u/ 。由此可见字母w既可以做元音字母使用,又能做辅音字母使用,所以称它为半元音字母。又如,字母y在yes,you等单词中在音节开头元音字母前起辅音字母作用;而y在fly,city这类单词中在音节的末尾辅音字母后,用来构成音节,起元音字母作用。由此可见,字母Y既可以做辅音字母使用,又可以当元音字母使用,所以称它为半元音字母。

第二,我们称音素/ j /和/ w /为半元音音素有两个原因。一是因为这两个音是由两个半元音字母发出来的。字母y在单词中作为辅音字母在音节的开头时发/ j /这个音,字母w在单词中作为辅音字母在音节的开头时发/ w /这个音。二是因为/ j /和/ w /这两个音素发音的特点介于元音和辅音之间。它们发音时一半特征属于辅音,气流通过口腔时受阻,但又非常快速滑向后面的元音,属于半受阻。而另一方面它们的发音又有一半符合元音特征,元音发音时气流通过口腔时通畅,而这两个音属于半通畅状态,发/j /音时双唇向两边伸展或成扁平形,舌位和口型和元音/ i: /相似,而发/w/音时双唇收元、收小并向前突出,唇形与舌位与元音/u:/相似。因此可见,这两个音素被称为半元音是很有道理的。

3. Three

Three 可以简化为 tri(h 不发音省略,元音变化 ee = i),作为前缀“三”。

Tricycle,三轮车
Triple,三倍的
Triplet,三胞胎中的一个
Tripod,三脚架,pod = ped = foot,与 上文的 Bipedal 同理
Triangle,三角形
Trilingual,三种语言的
Trigonometry,三角学,其中 gon = angle,比如美国的五角大楼( The Pentagon,penta = five),ufc 中的八角笼(The Octagon,Oct = eight)

4. Four

Four 的前缀有 quad-,quart-,tetra-(比较少见)。

Quad-

Quadruple,四倍的
Quadruplet,et 是小词后缀,表示四胞胎中的一个
Quadrilateral,四边形

Quart-

Quarter,四分之一,一刻钟,一季度
Quartile,四分位的,类似的还有 Percentile(百分位),统计学中专业术语,概率论必须弄明白的知识点,这里不多做解释了
Quarterback,橄榄球中的四分卫,为什么叫这个名字可以参考这个问题

Tetra- 很少遇到,有印象就好

Tetrapod,四足动物,pod = foot
Tetrad,意为 a group or set of four,麦克卢汉有个理论(Tetrad of media effects)就包含这个单词

5. Five

五的前缀有两个

Quint-

Quintessence,第五物质

古代希腊哲学家认为世间除了常见的水、火、土、气等四种物质外,还存在第五种物质。这种物质是万物之精华,构成了天体,并弥漫在所有其他物质中。亚里斯多德将这种物质命名为“以太”(ether)。拉丁语将这种物质称为quinta essentia(第五物质)。该词经由法语进入英语后,拼写改为quintessence。中世纪的炼金术士致力于提炼这种物质,认为它能治百病,并且具有长生不老的功效。现在,该词一般用来比喻“精华、精髓、典范”。

Quintuple,五倍的

Penta-

Pentagon,五角大楼,上文已经提到过
Pentacle,五角星(不是五角形)
Penta Kill,五杀,玩过英雄联盟的肯定不陌生 ^_^

6. Six

六有两个前缀,sex-(e = i,所以 sex- 是“六”),hex-(h 是一个变化灵活的字母,有时候可以替换其他字母,这里 h = s),两个前缀用的很少,这里不举例了。

7. Seven

同 Six,Seven也有 sept-,hept-两个前缀,pt 经过辅音变化成了 ven,于是 sept -> seven。

月份中 September 就是取自 Sept 组成的单词,至于为什么九月与“seven”有关系,参见这个答案

古罗马历把March作为1月,October和December本来就是古罗马历里的8月和10月。罗马的历法传说是罗马的建城者罗慕路斯(Romulus)制定的,一共有10个月,一共360天(一说304天):

  1. Martius
  2. Aprilis
  3. Maius
  4. Iunius
  5. Quintilis (拉丁语quintus:第五)
  6. Sextilis (拉丁语sextus:第六)
  7. Septembris (拉丁语septem:七)
  8. Octobris (拉丁语octo:八)
  9. Novembris (拉丁语novem:九)
  10. Decembris (拉丁语decem:十) (1~4月都是以神祇命名)

也有说法认为罗慕路斯的历法实际上有12个月(在Decembris后加上了Ianurarius和Februrarius)。但无论如何,前十个月的顺序我们可以确定,正如上文列举的那样。

但因为罗慕路斯的历法非常不准,每个月的天数相差太远(有的月份不足20天,而有的达到了35天之多),他的继任者努玛(Numa)调整了罗马的月份,加入了Ianurarius和Februrarius(认为罗慕路斯历法有12个月的人认为他只是调整了原来的顺序),把罗马历法改成了这样:

  1. Ianuarius
  2. Februarius
  3. Martius
  4. Aprilis
  5. Maius
  6. Iunius
  7. Quintilis (五)
  8. Sextilis (六)
  9. Septembris (七)
  10. Octobris (八)
  11. Novembris (九)
  12. Decembris (十) 括号里的数字表示月份的字面意思。现在可以看到7月之后的月份都在字面意思上和实际意思上相差了两个月,这就是英文里的“错位现象”的来源。

后来凯撒和奥古斯都分别把自己出生的月份Quintilis和Sextilis改成了自己的名字Iulius和Augustus,也就是我们所称的“儒勒历”(来自于凯撒的名字Iulius),但没有修正其他的月份名。儒勒历后来经过格里高利十三世教皇的修正成为了我们现在使用的“格里高利历”,但也没有修改月份的名字,所以拉丁语里的“错位”也保留了下来。

8. Eight

Oct- 是八的前缀,其中 ei = o,c = g(发音相同),h 省略,t 不变。

Octogon,八角形,八角笼
Octopus,八爪鱼

与 cuttlefish(墨鱼)和 squid(鱿鱼)有区别,个人的分辨方式是 cuttle 是 bag、sack 的意思,墨鱼有个墨袋。squid 来自于 squirt(喷射),因为它在快速移动时只能以喷射的方式直线后退。更多的细节可以参考这个回答

October,十月,与八有关。
Octogenarian,八十多岁的人,gen = ten(t = g)

9. Nine

non- 和 nov- 两个前缀,如 Nonagenarian 和 November。

10. Ten

Dec-,可能是这样变化的 d = t,n、c辅音变化。

Decathlon,十项全能,谐音“迪卡侬”(一个运动品牌),athlon 就是运动,同源单词 athlete,运动员。
Decimeter,分米,十厘米。
December,十二月
Decade,十年
Decaliter,十升

100. Hundred

Centi-

Centimeter,厘米
Centipede,百足虫
Century,一百年

1000. Thousand

Milli-

Millennial,一千年,enn = year。Anniversary,一周年,ann 也是年。
Millipede,千足虫,ped = foot。Pedal,踏板。

Kilo-

Kilogram
Kilometer

最后说几个数字 million,billion,trillion。

Milli = thousand,“on” 是augmentative suffix(大词后缀,类似的单词还有lagoon,lake + on = lagoon,e = o,k 变 g),所以可以理解为增大版的 thousand,那么在 thousand 后再加上三个零,于是成了一百万。

Billion = bi + milli + on。两个千加上大词后缀,bi 和 mi 合并,m省去,最后就是九个零 billion。

Trillion 和 quadrillion 依此类推即可。

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

考研高频单词讲解-5

本文为该系列第五期,我之前也对常用的变化规律简单介绍了一下,所以大家应该对单词形变有了基本的概念。如果没有我再贴几个链接,方便大家加深理解。 第一个回答: https://www.zhihu.com/question/27044578/answer/35030903 引用几段话: 元音(区别于元音字母)间的变化可以忽略,不要造成记忆上的负担。比如fact, fect, fic都是fac(做)这个词根的同源异形根。也就是说元音在词根含义中意义不大。 辅音向[d][t]过渡,而[t],[d]则向[s]过渡。 词根首字母会同化词缀尾字母。我们下面要说的 success 里就是sub尾字母b受到了词根cess首字母的影响而变成suc。这样的例子在英文单词中数不胜数, 第三点之前的单词出现过,但是我一笔带过了,不知道是否影响阅读。 再补里面一张比较有价值的一张图片: https://i.imgur.com/nbFnLQU.jpg 第二个回答: https://www.zhihu.com/question/21817832/answer/767747947 墙裂建议看完以上两个回答,基础不好的可以加深印象,已经明白了的可以再多补充点知识。 下面进入正文部分,本次只有五个单词,但是信息量相当大,把引用都看了还是比较累的,希望可以有耐心。看不太懂同学们没关系,多次学习,能看多少是多少^_^ 41.immigrant im’en’+ migrate’move’,看一下immigrate的英英释义: To move into a foreign country to stay permanently. 意思比较简单,就是migrate的词根好像比较难记,好在是单词本身应该已经能够记忆了,所以用单词记忆词根在这里比较合适。 要注意区分的是emigrant的意思也是移民,只不过在这里是指向外移民(e表ex,向外)。举个栗子, an emigrant ship是一艘去往其他国家的移民船,而 an immigrant ship就是向本国来驶的船。这里用汉语无法区分,或者说很不方便,所以要格外地注意其中细微的区别。动词emigrate和immigrate同理。贴一个韦氏字典的 解释 ,还提到了refugee这个单词,有兴趣的同学可以自行查看。 再补充一个小知识,migrate本身就有迁移的意思,...

2010年英语一大作文

  The Cultural Hotpot There is a hotpot standing in the middle of the picture, containing various kinds of food with different names such as swan lake, enlightenment, Confucianism, etc., as if all of them were mixing perfectly and harmoniously. The caption under the cartoon says: the cultural hot pot is both delicious and nutritious. The cartoon intends to illuminate that our culture is not an isolated island where folks only absorb things that they are familiar with. What we need to assimilate, however, is cultural features from different nations and various races. And by this means, the hotpot would be so delicious and nutritious that everyone in this society can relish what they have achieved eventually and can unconsciously affect each other afterward. In my viewpoint, diverse cultures enormously broaden ones’ horizons. In other words, whatever we are in touch with, it may provide a different way in which we see the world where there may be another treasure in an unnoticed corn...

2012年英语一大小作文

  小作文:欢迎信 Dear friends, Welcome to our university! On behalf of the Students’ Union, I am writing this email to express our excitement for your coming and offer some practical suggestions for your campus life here. Most important is that: Do not forget to enroll with your student cards on the first day to university, and keep your cards at hand in case of checking when entering specific constructions. Furthermore, our sports field is open from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m., so please adjust your exercise time accordingly and do not work out too late. I hope you can enjoy your studying time and have fun here. If you have any problems, please contact us by email via  union@student.com . We are here for you! Yours sincerely, Li Ming 大作文:悲喜之间 There are two men, as is depicted in this meaningful cartoon, making different responses to the very same incident happening on the road where a bottle of water tips down on the ground, and part of the water in it spills out. One of them reacts to it wit...

词缀讲解之后缀篇-1

之前讲了很多词根、前缀,但是还没讲过后缀,因为后缀的难度比较大,而且在使用率上要高于前缀,所以本期换一换口味(超链接不多,主要动脑子),讲讲后缀吧~ 首先明确一个概念:词缀(affix)。af + fix,fix为固定、stick、attach,af(ad变化而来)表加强,所以词缀为固定上去的东西。而词缀的固定对象就是词根(root),所以通过词缀+词根的组合就能形成新单词。 词缀包括了前缀(prefix, pre,在前面)和后缀(suffix,sub => suf,在下面)。前缀通常用来和词干(stem,理解为词根即可)组合改变单词的意思,比如un + happy,dis + like。 因为中文是我们的母语,所以很多人甚至没意识到我们生活中也大量使用词缀,小兄弟、小姐、小姨等,这里"小"就是一个前缀。反物质、反人类,这里的反和英语中的"anti" 和 "counter"一致,不会有人不知道 Counter-Strike 吧? 后缀如我们、你们、男孩们,“们"表多数,与英语中加复数的s对应。还有表性质的后缀,攻击性,爆炸性,侵略性,“性” 对应英语中的 “ive” (划重点),Aggressive, Explosive,ive表性质,这一点一定要记住,本期不打算讲这个词根,虽然它足够重要,也是重点+难点,下下次再说(我柚偷懒了)。预告一下,下次讲的是"ous”,为什么讲这个呢?因为它是重点+非难点,而且经常与其他词缀弄混,大家可以自行预习,看看能掌握到何种程度。 再划重点,说一下为什么英语中很多形容词能表名词?比如上述的explosive还可以表示爆炸物(近义词:bomb,C4,device)。相信很多同学在记忆该类型单词比较伤脑筋,如果不掌握记忆方法,那么记忆量就要double,非常不划算。 首先明确一点,语言是相通的,所以英语中如果遇到了不明白的知识点可以在中文里寻找相似之处(中文包括不限于普通话(mandarin)),大家最好可以在自己会的方言(Dialect)里找类似的。举个例子,f、h的变化,典型的是湖建人、福南人;东北话里l = r,蓝后(然后);l = n,蓝鲸(南京)人。此类变化非常之多,大家可以自行发掘,至于为什么出现这种变化,个人的想法是在不影响理解的情况下,...

2013年英语一大小作文

  小作文:邀请信 Dear Professor Ford, I am one of your students who attend your business classes. I am writing this e-mail because I want to invite you to be the judge for this Sunday English speech contest. I attended your business management classes last year, and I was impressed by your personalities and humorousness. So I thought you are the best person to take part in our English interactions and be the judge to make remarks about everyone’s performance. The subject of our contest is whether the government should pool more money to conserve endangered animals. It will be hosted in classroom E325 on March 17(this Sunday). I hope you can accept my invitation. Thanks for reading, and we are waiting for you! Yours sincerely, Li Ming 大作文:毕业的选择 This enlightening cartoon features a scene that happens when each college student is about to graduate. Many youngsters stand hesitantly in the face of a four-direction crossroad with nerves on edge and getting cold feet. In front of them, there are...

2016年英语一大小作文

小作文:通知 I’m a librarian at our university. On behalf of all faculty of our library, I am writing the notice to you provide some necessary information about it. First of all, our opening hours are from 8 a.m to 9 p.m. every day, except from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Friday, so please arrange your time properly. Secondly, there are some rules you need to follow. Heels and slippers are not allowed here due to their distraction caused to other readers. Last but not least, if you intend to borrow several books, please contact the receptionist, and he will process the formalities for you. Our library owns more than 100,000 books, so I am sure you will enjoy your time here. Inquiries are welcomed and feel free to make contact with us if you need any assistance. Li Ming 2018.05.12 大作文:榜样的力量 What a sarcastic scene! On the left picture, a casual father leans back on the chair and dictate his son to study carefully and hard. The boy is clearly not happy with his father’s “dictatorship.” On the right, ho...

考研高频单词讲解-1

本期写一篇考研高频单词的讲解,主要是从词根词缀出发写一点个人背单词的技巧和心得,或者是一些小的辨析之类的。词频的来源是 这里 。 授人鱼不如授人以渔,先推荐两个个我常用的词根查询网站(全英+科学上网): Etymonline Wiktionary 前期直接看可能难度较大,可以参考 http://www.dicts.cn/ 这个网站,逐渐熟悉后再慢慢适应英文版。 话不多说,直接开始吧~~ 1. industrial industry的形容词,注意industry有勤奋的意思,而industrial没有【勤奋的】的意思,只有【工业的】的意思。Industry由 indu + stry组成,indu 由indo结尾变化而来(元音变化很常见,可以理解为a = e = i = o =u),意为 in或者within , stry = stru = structure。综合起来就是在里面建造=》工业。 2. involve in(≈indo)+volve(旋转,拟声词,模仿旋转的声音) = 卷入,涉及。Volvo沃尔沃也是源自同一个词根,元音变化又用上啦,e 变成了 o。volve这个词根的同源词也很多,需要单开一节讲解。 3. moral 这个单词从词源比较难记,因为无法得出有效的记忆规律。所以多个同源单词一起记忆比较方便。 Demoralize 这个单词翻译考过,de = off 去掉,morale(士气),懂点词根很容易就能知道他的意思啦。比如LOL中被Ace(团灭)了就非常地demoralizing哈哈。如果每人拿到一个人头就叫做team ace,虽然通常都是adc(attack damage carry), ap(ability power carry)拿人头。 说到ace这个单词也很有趣,ace是扑克(poker)中最大的。有一种说法是,1789年法国大革命之后,平民获得了更多权力,于是最底层ace就变成最大的啦。 如果各位有兴趣还可以学习扑克中的历史+英语, Jack ,  Queen ,  King 对应了不同的人物,其中黑桃q(queen of spades,spade是铲子)原型是雅典娜(Athena),还有很多有意思的人物,这里就不展开啦,有兴趣可以自己查阅以上超链接。 Morale 加e变名词,有道德的状态(concerning mor...

2017年英语一大小作文

小作文:推荐信 Dear Professor James, Welcome to Newland! I thought you might want to travel to some tourist attractions here, so I am writing this email to give my recommendations. The most appealing spot is Antara, where is full of decent local museums of different types, such as art, music, and history. You are a big fan of history and art, so I am sure that will be the No.1 option. The second recommendation is Ozark, a beautiful lake, where you can row a boat serenely or fish for a quiet afternoon. I am excited about your arrival. My picks are tailored for you, so I hope they would be taken into your account. Have fun and see you soon! Best regards, Li Ming 大作文:“有书”与“读书” It has been a common phenomenon that one is less inclined to read books, as is the man in the left picture, who leans back on a chair and exclaims that he owns so many books. On the contrary, the “right” boy is not an owner, but a practical reader, who sits in front of a desk and resolves to finish twenty books within this...

2019年英语一大小作文

小作文:介绍信 Dear Friend, I am a member of APRS project and have received your inquiry about our project. I am writing this letter to answer your questions and give more information about becoming a volunteer. To be a volunteer, first, you need to focus on what type of volunteer you want to be, to help children or to teach them? The final is various in terms of different individuals. Secondly, relevant skills and experiences are needed sometimes, because the problem would be easier if you have met it or have enough know-how about it. Lastly, the job also requires long-term commitment and passion. Above are my thoughts. If you have more questions, please contact us by email via  abc@mail.com . Thank you! Sincerely, Li Ming 大作文:登山者 What a sharp contrast! A climber is about to give up at the half of a mountain, saying he is tired. On the contrary, his friend, who carries a heavy pack on his back, does not intend to surrender yet. With his head up, he says we can continue after a short brea...

经济学人精读-1

本文是【经济学人精读】系列的第一期,第一次写,如有错误请大佬见谅O(∩_∩)O 本文出自2020-04-18期的科学和技术(Science and technology)板块。文章较短,比较符合考研文章的字数。 主标题:The American west’s drought is its second-worst for 12 centuries 副标题:People are partly to blame 文章标题已经大体上描绘了行文的走向和作者的态度。考研的时候就没有这种好事啦,只有正文(通常也不是完整的)。标题没什么生词,需要注意drought是干旱,而不是dryness的同义词。Century源自于拉丁语centuria,然后提取cent作为”百“的词根,可以生成percent,centuple,centigrade(摄氏度,0-100,故得此名)等单词。 The south-west of the United States, together with adjacent parts of Mexico across the Rio Grande, is one of the driest parts of the North American continent. But, over the past two decades, even that expected dryness has been taken to the limit. According to Park Williams, who works at Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, the current lack of rainfall in the area constitutes a megadrought of a magnitude seen on only four other occasions in the past 1,200 years. Adjacent:邻接。同根词汇:adjacency matrix(邻接矩阵) Expected dryness:预料之中的干涸。Be taken to the limit:到达了极限。配合完成时态,可见dryness已经到达了极大值(Maxima, o...