How to improve your Vocabulary

Tony Randall

Words can make us laugh, cry, go to war, fall in love. Whether you're still in school or you head up a corporation, the better command you have of words, the better chance you have of saying exactly what you mean and of understanding what others mean.

English is the richest language—with the largest vocabulary on earth. Over 1,000,000 words!

Yet, the average adult has a vocabulary of only 30,000 to 60,000 words. Imagine what we're missing!

Here are five pieces of advice that help you learn—and remember—whole families of words at a time.

What's the first thing to do when you see a word you don't know?

1. Try to guess the meaning of the word from the way it's used.

You can often get at least part of a word's meaning just from how it's used in a sentence. That's why it's so important to read as much as you can—different kinds of things: magazines, books, newspapers you don't usually read. The more you expose yourself to new words, the more words you'll pick up just by seeing how they're used.

For instance, you run across the word "manacle":

"The manacles had been on John's wrists for 30 years. Only one person had a key—his wife."

You have a good idea of what "manacles" are—just from the context of the sentence.

But let's find out exactly what the word means and where it comes from. The only way to do this, and to build a large vocabulary fast, is to go to the dictionary.

2. Look it up.

Here's the definition for "manacle" in an English dictionary.

Manacle n. [Usually plural] 1. A device for confining the hands; a handcuff. 2. Anything that confines or restrains. [From Latin manicula, diminutive of manus, hand.]

The first definition fits here.

Well, that's what you thought it meant. But what's the idea behind the word?

What are its roots?

Here's where the detective work—and the fun—begins.

3. Dig the meaning out by the roots.

The root is the basic part of the word. (Most of our roots come from Latin and Greek words at least 2,000 years old.)

Learning the roots 1) helps us remember words; 2) gives us a deeper understanding of the words we already know; and 3) allows us to pick up whole families of new words at a time.

Notice the root of "manacle" is manus (Latin) meaning "hand".

Well, that makes sense. Now, other words with this root, man, start to make sense, too.

Take manual—something done "by hand" (manual labour) or a "handbook". And manage—to "handle" something (as a manager). When you manufacture something, you "make it by hand" (in its original meaning). And when you finish your first novel, your publisher will see your originally "handwritten"—manuscript.

Imagine! A whole new world of words opens up—just from one simple root! The root gives the basic clue to the meaning of a word. But there's another important clue—the prefix.

4. Get the powerful prefixes under your belt.

A prefix is the part that's sometimes attached to the front of a word. There aren't many—less than 100 major prefixes—and you'll learn them in no time at all just by becoming more aware of the meanings of words you already know. Here are a few.

(A table: omitted)

Now, see how the prefix (along with the context) helps you get the meaning of the underlined word:

"Oh, that snake's not poisonous. It's a completely innocuous little garden snake." (The literal meaning of innocuous is "not harmful".)

Now, you've got some new words. What are you going to do with them?

5. Put your new words to work at once

Use them several times the first day you learn them. Say them out loud! Write them in sentences.

Should you "use" them on friends? Careful—it depends on the situation. You know when a word sounds natural and when it sounds stuffy.

How about your enemies? Ask one of them if he's read that article on pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis. (You really can find it in the dictionary.)

Now, you're one up on him.

That's all there is to it—you're off on your treasure hunt.

Aristophanes said, "By words, the mind is excited and the spirit elated." It's as true today as it was when he said it in Athens—2,400 years ago!