Page 458 - Word Power Made Easy: The Complete Handbook for Building a Superior Vocabulary

SESSION 35

ORIGINS AND RELATED WORDS

1. how to look

The Latin root specto, to look, is the source of a host of common English words: spectacle,
spectator, inspect, retrospect (a looking back), prospect (a looking ahead), etc. In a variant
spelling, spic-, the root is found in conspicuous (easily seen or looked at), perspicacious, and
perspicuous.
A perspicacious (pur′-spƏ-KAY′-shƏs) person is keen-minded, mentally sharp, astute. Per- is

a pre x meaning through; so the word etymologically means looking through (matters, etc.)
keenly, intelligently. The noun: perspicacity (pur′-spƏ-KAS′-Ə-tee). Write an alternate noun
ending in -ness:

Perspicacity is a synonym of acumen (AK′-y ′-mƏn), mental keenness, sharpness,
quickness; keen insight. The root is Latin acuo, to sharpen.

2. sharpness

From acuo, to sharpen, come such words as acute, sharp, sudden, as acute pain, an acute
attack of appendicitis, acute reasoning, etc; and acupuncture (AK′-y -punk′-chƏr), the
insertion of a (sharp) needle into the body for medical purposes. The noun form of acute,
referring to the mind or thinking, is acuteness or acuity (Ə-KY -Ə-tee); in other contexts,
acuteness only.

Acupuncture combines acuo, to sharpen, with punctus, point. When you punctuate a
sentence, you put various points (periods, commas, etc.) where needed; when lightning
punctuates the storm, or when the silence is punctuated by the wailing of police sirens, again
points, etymologically speaking, interrupt the atmosphere, the quiet, etc.
If you are punctual, you’re right on the point of time (noun: punctuality); if you’re

punctilious (punk-TIL′-ee-Əs), you are exact, scrupulous, very careful to observe the proper
points of behavior, procedure, etc. (noun: punctiliousness). And to puncture something, of
course, is to make a hole in it with a sharp point—as to puncture someone’s tire, or
figuratively, illusions, fantasies, or ego. Pungent (PUN′-jƏnt) comes from another form of the
root punctus (pungo, to pierce sharply), so a pungent smell or taste is sharp, spicy, pricking

the nose or taste buds, so to speak; and a pungent wit sharply pierces one’s sense of humor.
Can you write the noun forms of this adjective? __________________ or __________________.

3. some more looking