PREFIXES - Words with de-.

Like others, the prefix de- has several different meanings. Its most basic sense is ‘away, off. You can see this meaning in the words debar, to shut out or away; defend, to ward off danger or attack; and defer, to put off or delay.
It can also mean ‘less’ or ‘down’, as in decline, to bend or sink downwards, both literally, as of one’s head, and of things like health; demote, to move down, especially in status; and of course descend and decrease.
The other common function of de- is to show the reverse of an action, that is, the opposite or undoing of the action. Hence, depreciate, the opposite of appreciate; decipher, literally, to take out of code; deform, to spoil the shape of; dehumidify, to take the humidity out of; and depopulated, used to describe a region when part of the population has moved away.
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Origins - A Walkaway

A ambulatory patient, as in a hospital or convalescent home, is finally well enough to get out of bed and walk around. A perambulator, often shortened to pram, is a baby carriage, a vehicle for walking an infant through the streets (per-, through). To perambulate is, etymologically, ‘to walk through’; hence, to stroll around.
To amble is to walk aimlessly; an ambulance is so called because originally it was composed of two stretcher-bearers who walked of the battlefield with a wounded soldier; and a preamble is, by etymology, something that ‘walks before’ (pre-, before, beforehand), hence an introduction or introductory statement, a preamble to the speech, etc; or any event that is introductory or preliminary to another, as in ‘An increase in inflationary factors in the economy is often a preamble to a drop in the stock market.’
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Roots - Words from Vers, Vert

The basic sense of ‘turning’ is clear in words such as reverse, obverse, and invert. The purpose of an advertisement is to turn you to it, or to the product it displays. Thea- in a vert comes from ab-, ‘away’. So you might a vert your gaze from something, or try to a vert an accident by taking precautions. If you have an a version to something, it ‘turns you off.
Divert and its derivative diversion both contain the idea of ‘turning away’. You can divert someone’s attention from something. Traffic might have to turn off the main road, because of roadworks, and use a diversion. These words can also have the sense of ‘distraction, entertainment’; a hobby is a diversion, something that turns your attention away from your everyday work, for instance. Related to these words are the adjective diverse, meaning ‘varied’, and its noun diversity.
This leads to the idea of ‘change’. A version of something is that thing with some changes made to it. Most of the meanings of convert and convertible have the idea of change. A convert is someone who has changed to a new religion or set of beliefs. You can convert your pounds into francs at a bank. If two people exchange ideas or small talk, they converse or have a conversation.
Other common words using this root are: controversy, conversant, incontrovertible, inverse, irreversible, subversive, traverse.
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Origins - At Large

We discovered magnus, large, big, great, and find it in magniloquent (etymologically, ‘talking big’). The root occurs in a number of other words:
1.Magnanimous – big-hearted, generous, forgiving (etymologically, ‘great-minded). (Magnus plus animus, mind).
2.Magnate – a person of great power or influence, a big wheel, as a business magnate.
3.Magnify – to make larger, or make seem larger (magnus plus –fy from facio, to make), as in ‘magnify your problems’.
4.Magnificent – magnus plus fic-, from facio.
5.Magnitude – magnus plus the common noun suffix –tude, as in fortitude, multitude, gratitude, etc.
6.Magnum (as of champagne or wine) – a large bottle, generally twice the size of a standard bottle.
7.Magnum opus – etymologically, a ‘big work’; actually, the greatest work, or masterpiece, of an artist, writer, or composer. Opus is the Latin word for work; the plural of opus is used in the English word opera, etymologically, ‘a number of works’, actually a musical drama containing overture, singing, and other forms of music, i.e. many musical works.The verb form opero, to work, occurs in operate, co-operate, operator, etc.
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Roots - Words From Sed,Sede,Sid,Sess

The Latin verbs sedeo, sedo, and sido are distantly related to our native English verbs sit and set. Latin also had related words with the stem sit. From these come many words relating to position, such as a building site or a situation.
The potential confusion between this root and the root ced, cede makes it worth while trying to learn which words use which root. If you do, it will help your spelling.
The idea of ‘sitting’ is often prominent in words derived from sedeo. A sedentary job involves a lot of sitting. A session is a ‘sitting’, as of a court, and so a single meeting of any organised group. The chairman might preside at this meeting, which means that he ‘sits in front’ of it. From this come words like president and presidential.
From ‘sitting’ it is a short way to the idea of ‘setting’ and from there to ‘relaxation’. A sediment is a deposit of solids that has settled at the bottom of a liquid. Someone who is sedate is easy-going and unruffled. This state can be achieved artificially by taking sedatives.
The place where you are settled is your residence. You reside there. Hence resident and residential. The word reside can also be used figuratively – the highest judicial power in Britain resides in the House of Lords.
Obsess, obsession, and obsessive, have the prefix ob-, meaning ‘in front of’. The original Latin word meant to ‘ambush’ or ‘besiege’. It is easy to see how an obsession might be thought of as something that ‘besieges’ someone.
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Origins - Better Left Unsaid

Tacit (TAS’-it) derives also from taceo.
Here is a man dying of cancer. He suspects what his disease is, and everyone else, of course, knows. Yet he never mentions the dread word, and no one who visits him ever breathes a syllable of it in his hearing. It is tacitly understood by all concerned that the word will remain forever unspoken.
(Such a situation today, however, may or may not be typical – there appears to be a growing tendency among doctors and families to be open and honest with people who are dying.)
Consider another situation:
An executive is engaging in extracurricular activities with his secretary. Yet during office time they are as formal and distant as any two human beings can well be. Neither of them ever said to the other, ‘Now, look here, we may be lover after five o’clock, but between nine and five we must preserve the utmost decorum, okay?’ Such speech, such a verbal arrangement, is considered unnecessary – so we may say that the two have a tacit agreement (i.e. nothing was ever actually said) to maintain a complete employer-employee relationship during office hours.
Anything tacit, then, is unspoken, unsaid, not verbalized. We speak of a tacit agreement, arrangement, acceptance, rejection, assent, refusal, etc. A person is never called tacit.
The noun is tacitness. (Bear in mind that you can transform any adjective into a noun by adding -ness, though in many cases there may be a more sophisticated, or more common, noun form.)
Changing the a of the root taceo to i, and adding the prefix re-, again, and the adjective suffix -ent, we can construct the English word reticent.
Someone is reticent who prefers to keep silent, whether out of shyness, embarrassment, or fear of revealing what should not be revealed. (The idea of ‘againness’ in the prefix has been lost in the current meaning of the word.)
We have frequently made nouns out of -ent adjectives. The noun form of reticent is reticence.
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Variations on a Theme- Words from Fac, Fact, Fect, Fict

Most of the many words using this root still have a clear idea of doing or making. A fact is something done, or made true. A factory is where things are made. The manu- in manufacture is Latin for ‘by hand’, as in manuscript.
Fiction is something made up in your head – whether a story or a lie.
Facile means, literally, ‘able to be done’. It has come to mean ‘easy to do, requiring little thought or skill’. So a facile answer or person is a shallow or unconvincingly glib one. Facility is easy skill as in speaking Chinese with facility. A facility makes your life or work easier – it might be a building, room, or piece of equipment.
To affect a person or thing is to do something to (ad-) it. What has been done to it, that is, the result or consequence of an action, is an effect, literally ‘done from’ (ex-). You can also effect a change, an arrest, or a cure, that is, do it or bring it about. An efficient method or machine does or performs its function with little wasted effort.
Something infected is literally ‘done in’. Something has got into it and is affecting it for the worse. Wounds may get infected by bacteria. Your mind might be infected by doubt.
The prefix per- means ‘through’ or else ‘thoroughly’. A perfect piece of work is one that has been gone through or done completely.
Other words using the fac root and its variants include affection, defect, deficient, factor, and proficient. Even the suffix -ify is related. To beautify, unify, or petrify something means to make it more beautiful, make it one, or turn it into stone.
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