Directional Prefixes
con-,com-, col- = with, together
Latin
contract, connect,
conference
• Turn to your neighbor and have a
short “conference” to see if you can
figure out what the prefix con- means.
Match the words to their
description.
• compete, collision,
community, collection
• baseball cards
• The Olympics
• people in the same school
• a car accident
Companion
• The word companion has an interesting history that
comes from ancient Rome. Roman soldiers fought
under a “buddy system.” Two soldiers were given food
and rations to share with each other. The Latin word
for bread is panis. The two soldiers who shared food
were called companions, because they shared the
same bread together. Today, because of the ancient
Romans, a friend is still a companion. And when we
have company for dinner, we often “share bread
together.”
college
• col-lege (leg=read)
• a place to read and learn together
collide
• col-lide (lid=slide)
• slide together
• collision
collect
• col-lect (lect=gather)
• to gather objects together
• collection
compact
• com-pact (pact=small)
• things together in a small or tiny
space
compress
• com-press (press=press)
• to press together
composition
• com-position (posit=put)
• the way something is put together
combine
• com-bine (bine=pair)
• put things together
compete
• com-pete (pet=seek)
• to play with other at a game or sport
• competion
complete
• com-plete (plet=fill)
• to fill up, to finish
• completion
collateral
• col-lateral (later=side)
• an object that you pledge with to show
your word when you borrow money
Did you know?
• The Latin word for plunder or booty
taken during a raid is called pile.
When Roman soldiers destroyed
towns, they put all the plunder
together in a “pile.” They compiled the
property and then divided it among
the winning soldiers.
Did you know?
• When ancient Romans borrowed
money, they would bring something
called collateral. If the borrower did
not pay back the full amount, the
lender got to keep the collateral.
Thanks to the Romans, we have the
same practice today.
More words
• concentrate, construct, conduct,
concoct, confer
• commune
• collaborate