It's Greek To Me!

Greek and Latin Prefixes, Roots and Suffixes used in English
This page © 1999 by Nicholas E. Miller

Basic term

Meaning
Greek
Latin
Prefix
Suffix

dino

terrible, monstrous
Yes
.
Yes
.

dirus

terrible
.
Yes
Yes, root
.

Examples

Definition

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dinosaur (2)

(noun) - terrible, monstrous + lizard = any of a class of extinct lizards, usually huge, from the Mesozoic Era (including the Cretaceous, Jurassic and Triassic periods). It may occasionally be used in some areas to describe something that is either very large or old fashioned and obsolete. (My grandparents still have a 1955 floor model, Black and White vacuum tube TV... what a dinosaur!) Dinosaurian is the adjective form.

dire (3)

(adj.) - from the word = horror; warning of disaster; desperate, urgent, extreme. Direly is an adverb form.