An important and widely used Latin root word is port, which means ‘carry.’
Humans ‘carry’ things from one place to another all the time. Portly humans, for instance, ‘carry’ a lot of body weight. When one nation imports goods from another nation, it ‘carries’ them into its own territory. On the other hand, to export goods is to ‘carry’ them out of one country to sell to another. Most of these goods are portable, or easily ‘carried’ from one country to the next. Human beings can also be deported from their own countries, being ‘carried’ from one nation to another, usually for legal proceedings.
When something is important, you want to ‘carry’ it towards yourself to tend to it. Reporters, or newspeople who ‘carry’ back information to the public at large, often focusing on important concerns. In fact, reporters talk about sports a great deal, or those forms of entertainment that ‘carry’ you away from everyday activities.
Transportation, or the act of ‘carrying’ people across from one place to another, forms the basis of much of everyday life. Cars support or ‘carry’ us in our need to go to far places quickly that walking just can’t accomplish. An even faster way to get from one place to another is via teleportation, or the ability to be ‘carried’ instantaneously from one place to another.
Have you ever had a porter, or one who ‘carries’ luggage, help you at a hotel? An old-fashioned type of a leather suitcase is a portmanteau with which one can ‘carry’ a large amount of clothing. A portfolio is also a case in which you can ‘carry’ items, such as works of art or photographs; a portfolio also refers to the items put in the portable case.
Import port into your brain, and it will ‘carry’ you far with knowledge of words!
- portly: refers to one who ‘carries’ much body weight
- import: ‘carry’ in
- export: ‘carry’ out
- portable: easily ‘carried’
- deport: ‘carry’ from
- important: ‘carried’ in
- reporter: one who ‘carries’ back
- sport: ‘carries’ one away from everyday concerns
- transportation: act of ‘carrying’ across
- porter: one who ‘carries’
- portmanteau: large ‘carrier’ of clothing
- portfolio: that which ‘carries’ items, or those items so ‘carried’