albino

I subscribe to the idea that expanding english vocabulary requires learning commonly used prefixes. sciences in particular make use of jargon which often times can be understood with basic understanding of certain prefixes and suffixes.

Since a Japanese friend  wants to expand his English vocabulary, I also provided a copy of this list of scientific root words, prefixes and suffixes.

siraris: aero means air. it can be found in words like aerosols. so this will give you an idea that it pertains to air. anyway just remember "aer" as in "air".

friend: ok.

siraris: agri refers to field or soil. example is agriculture and agronomy.

friend: yes!

siraris: the suffix -al makes a word becomes a modifier. so when a noun is modified to end in -al then it possesses such characteristic. can you think of words ending in -al?
friend: yes, financial, universal, etc.

siraris: alright, we proceed to alb- prefix. this refers to white. actually, this is more applicable in sciences because there is a pheneomenon known as albinism in some organisms.
friend: really?

siraris: yes, there is. in fact, crocodiles are generally black but there exists albino crocodile. in fact, other animals also exhibit albinism like turtles, frogs, etc. (click here to see other albino animals)

siraris: what you only need to remember is that albinism happens when a colored animals exhibit unusual whiteness which is unusual in their group. this is never a problem in the Philippines because we call these people as albino.

friend: really? an albino person?

siraris: yes, because we are generally dark-skinned so when one is unusually white then he is an albino. so if your race is black andyou become white then you are an albino.

friend: so is michael jackson an albino?

siraris: hahaha! rotfl