Preface

One of the outstanding problems of the biologist, whether he be beginning student or specialist, is that of understanding technical terms. The best way to understand and remember technical terms is to understand first their component parts, or roots. To this end the various word roots, from the Latin, Greek, and other languages, that are most frequently encountered in biological terms have been brought together in this dictionary.

Some of the word roots listed in the following pages are used in many scientific terms and names, and once their meaning is understood their occurrence in words subsequently encountered will immediately suggest the meanings of the new words. The task of looking up a new word in a technical or unabridged dictionary is often eliminated by a knowledge of word roots. The study of the roots of words can become extremely interesting, as well as a very valuable aid in understanding new terms.

This dictionary has been designed primarily to meet the needs of the beginning student, the medical student, and the taxonomist, but it should be of value to all biologists. Both student and teacher are keenly aware of the difficulties of the beginning student in learning technical terms; the medical student is often overwhelmed by the multitude of names of structures, conditions, and processes which he must understand and remember; and the taxonomist frequently encounters words the meanings of which are to be found only in a Latin or Greek dictionary, if at all.

The section on the formulation of scientific names, following the list of word roots, should be of value to the taxonomist who is interested in naming new species or groups.