Rabbit Roots

If you’re an English speaker, you know a lot of Latin. You might not realise it, but you use Latin-derived words all the time, since they make up more than half of words in the English language. Lots of people are aware that words containing aqua have something to do with water, or that the prefix bi hints at the word being about two of something. There are hundreds of other roots that fit this same easy-to-learn model; simply by recognising them, you can appreciate the evolution and structure of the language you speak. 

Meanwhile, if you’re trying to increase your English vocabulary, learning the Latin roots that give words their shape will put your growth on hyperdrive. It’s one of the best ways to learn large amounts of advanced English words. For instance, if you know that the root cav means "empty", it's much easier to remember that cavernous means "huge, dark and empty", concave means "curving in", and excavate means "digging a hole" than learning those three words independently by brute force.

Our set of cards is designed to let you see the patterns for yourself. Each root has an original icon to reinforce its meaning in your head. With each root you’ll uncover 4 words in English that use it. The set includes more than 40 different roots. Be on the lookout for our expansion pack as well, which will feature at least that many roots that we didn’t have space for here. The cards can be played as a strategic game, with rules simple enough for children to play, or used as a study set. The choice of learning is yours!