More Magically Useful Little Words in Greek! (All Levels)

Añadido: 2026-05-10

[00:00:00]Hello, welcome back to Holiday Greek or Picture Perfect Greek. A few weeks ago, we had another episode where we were talking about Greek prefixes, little words that you put in front of other words in order to change their meaning or to change the way the word is used.

[00:00:19]And I got many comments from you saying that you would like another episode on this with even more prefixes. And this is it. Today we are going to talk about even more prefixes that are very very common that are used all the time. And the nice thing is that when you know these prefixes, you can often guess what a word means. Although perhaps you don't know the specific word, but if you know the prefix and you know the other half of the word, then you can put them together and often it is exactly what you expect. So let's go and look at the number of prefixes. Today we will talk about pero an is ao and n. And if this sounds like a lot don't worry these are very simple each one of them and we will have them done in no time. So let's begin.

[00:01:15]First comes b which means around and about and it also means concerning something. Perry and then you say some topic and you know this from English words like perimeter which means measuring around something or periscope.

[00:01:34]Scope means to to look right and the periscope is to look around, right? If you are in the uh submarine and you use a periscope to look around and per is very common in Greek in front of gra for example it would be perafo I'm writing around something and this means to describe to describe to write around the thing means to describe the thing for example can you describe your house to me. And another everyday word is perimeo. Perimeo. Mano means to stay put, to stay somewhere. And perimeo to linger around, to stay around. And it means to wait, right? To wait. Perimeo.

[00:02:29]The next word is pros. So pros in ancient Greek means towards or facing.

[00:02:35]And it implies adding something or moving in a specific direction. The adding comes from you know putting something in front of something else then you're adding them up. So pros mano for example mano we just had it means to stay somewhere. Perimeo to wait but pro mano means to anticipate something to wait for something to await something or to expect something. Another common everyday word is prosthetto. Pro means again to add or put in front of and means again to put something in place.

[00:03:15]So prosto just means to add to add something in front of something else.

[00:03:23]I want to add a little sugar to my coffee. But also in mathematics prostasy is the additions perpo means to try harder to try.

[00:03:42]Next one iso epo hypo in English means under or below and it comes again from ancient Greek epo meaning under. And this is where in English you get for example hypothermia which means under temperature lower temperature than what it should be or hypodermic. The hypodermic needle is an injection that you put under the skin and thema is the skin. So hypodermic means under the skin. And if you put this together with grapho for example epo grapho means to sign because you're writing under the document right under writing underwriting even exists in English right um which for for insurance right which means to sign essentially to agree to a contract where do I need to sign and you will also find things like epo pherohero or epomony. Epoperero means to suffer. Epomony means to have patience.

[00:04:48]In both cases, the idea is that you are under something. If you're suffering, you're suffering from something that's bigger than you or higher than you. So, you feel like you're under it, which causes you suffering. Or epomony, you are standing, you're waiting. Again, it's the men. All right? You're staying under something having patience until it blows over.

[00:05:14]Ana is the next one means up or back or again. It has all these different meanings. So it can be up like anavasia to walk up a mountain or it can also mean back or again.

[00:05:29]And you see this in English in anatomy for example which means cutting up or cutting again. Um tommy is the cut. So anatomy is the again cutting cutting something up or analysis. Lysis means the loosening or the diluting. And so analysis is the solving again or loosening up again. And ana together with grapho gives you anagramrapho which means to stage to list to write down on a label or on an official document.

[00:06:15]And a very common everyday verb is analypto. Anacalipto where calalypto is to cover. This is where your calipus comes from the tree because it's covering very well. The u the f in Greek means well. So it's a well covering tree. It has a lot of shade. And ana galipto means to uncover to discover.

[00:06:41]Literally the same thing in English, right? Discover means to take away the cover and look at something that you have discovered or anapo where popa is the breath. Anapo means to breathe again. So to breathe because breathing is um thing that you do again and again right it's a periodic motion. So anapo means to breathe.

[00:07:04]Next one is is which means in or into.

[00:07:09]And in everyday use it's all kinds of things where the movement goes in somewhere into something. So isago for example means to import or introduce.

[00:07:19]The argo is ancient Greek for to lead to guide to bring and is arago means to bring in to lead in to guide inside. And this means to import and the opposite of course then is to export.

[00:07:38]to kineta. Greece is importing many cars and you also know this from isio. Isio is literally the thing you need to go inside somewhere. The ticket the ticket that you need to get entrance to gain entrance somewhere.

[00:07:58]X is the opposite of is. It means out of to go out. And this is also in Latin the same with X, right? So this is where in English you have words like exit or export which are exactly the same like in Greek.

[00:08:20]Other examples, efo means to express and frazzo here is the from phrase, right? Eraso means to out phrase something to express yourself by phrasing something outside of yourself.

[00:08:40]Exgo means to explain is the explanation.

[00:08:49]Can you explain this to me? Next one is apo which means from or away from and so in English for example we have apology which is the speech lo is the speech and apo means from or away so is the speech from someone or the speech away from something.

[00:09:12]So apo together with mano gives you apomo to remain to be left over.

[00:09:20]Apo often expresses also separation or completion of something. So apoizo means to decide.

[00:09:30]What do you decide to do?

[00:09:34]Are the leftovers in food, right? In the meaning of food when the meal has been completed and then you have things still lying on the plates that have not been eaten. These are the apoaya comes from apo and fajito. um food, the food that is left over. Apolo means to fire or to dismiss an employee. Apolo to loosen away this person.

[00:10:03]The next one is N which means again in or within. But now this is the is more the direction inside while the N is the being inside already is not directed but it means containment right being inside contained inside something.

[00:10:22]And so you know this in English from energy uh ergo is the work. So energy is the ability to have work inside of something right? If the battery has energy in it then it has the ability to do work or enthusiasm where the enthusiasm comes from theos God. So enthusiasm is to be to have a god inside of one to inspire one right so it's like having a little god inside enthusiasm.

[00:10:54]And there is one little complication when you have the N together with a gamma then the ni becomes also a gamma. So when you say enrao you would not say enrao I write in or I register or enroll you would say enrao enrao. So the ni becomes a gama to make it easier to speak. And so means to enroll or to register for something.

[00:11:26]I need to register at the university.

[00:11:30]Another great word is a interest.

[00:11:39]This book interests me a lot. And with this we are finished. And so the next time you see one of these prefixes, now you know what they mean. And you can often guess or you can even make your own words. In the last video about this topic, we had this exercise where you were supposed to take any word that attach any prefix and create a word that does not exist but which makes sense to you and you can do it again. Just pick these prefixes and add them to any word and then create a word of your own that you can guess what it means and perhaps many people would understand what it means. Although of course they would know this is a fake word but this is the fun of it. You can just add these two words to make new meanings. Or on the other hand if you have a word that you don't understand you can just separate the prefix. Look at the prefix. Look at the word and then probably you will understand what it means.

[00:12:36]Okay let's go have a little quiz. A few questions. You want to ask someone to describe their house. Which word do you use? Describe your house. Hypograph anagramrapho.

[00:12:54]Hypograph anographo.

[00:12:58]And of course it is paragraph. Describe circumscribe. Right. Literally paragrapho around. Right.

[00:13:08]Which prefix completes the verb meaning to sign? To sign a contract. to sign a paper. Is it epographo, apograph or prographo?

[00:13:23]And of course, this is epograph. Which of the following is the correct word for register or enroll? Is it enrao, angrapho or israo?

[00:13:38]Enrao, enrafo or isigrapho?

[00:13:43]And it is B. The second one enrafo because the knee becomes gamma if it's in front of a gama. Which prefix means up back or again?

[00:13:59]Up back or again? Is it ana is or a po?

[00:14:07]It is of course ana.

[00:14:10]To say I want to add sugar, you would use the verb prefix and then theto.

[00:14:19]So which one is it? Is it prosthet or eetto?

[00:14:29]It is prosthet. Okay. And so with this we are finished. If you want to have the whole thing written down, go to my substack holiday.

[00:14:41]There you will find all these words. And that's it for the moment. I hope this was useful and I will see you in the next one. Bye-bye.