Increase Vocabulary
with the Latin Root MANUS

Need a great way to increase vocabulary for your students? Try grouping English vocabulary words around the Latin root word MANUS, meaning hand.

Teach a few new words, then watch your students discover dozens more on their own. Their excitement will amaze you, and their natural curiosity will help burn new words into long-term memory.

Our Latin Word of the Week is the perfect way to begin.

Latin Word of the Week (4/23/2008):

Increase vocabulary: Create your next lesson plan with the Latin root manus, manus. Give your students a hand internalizing new vocabulary words.

Derivatives of Manus, Manus:

manumission (n): the act of freeing from bondage, setting free (manus + mittere).

manumit (v): to free from slavery, to release from the hand of control.

manuscript (n): a document written by hand (manus + scribere).

manuduction (n): the act of leading by the hand (manus + ducere). When my son turned 9, he refused motherly manuduction to school.

emancipate (v): to free from the hand of power or control; to set free.

manage (v): to oversee, to handle, to control. He managed to learn five new words per day.

manual (adj, n): of the hand, such as manual labor; a little book, held in hand.

manciple (n): one who acquires or purchases provisions for an institution, such as a college or monastery.

mandate (v, n): to order, authorize, decree; a command, an order; (manus + dare). The king had the mandate of heaven, but not so much of the people.

mandatory (adj): ordered, commanded; obligatory, necessary.

maneuver (v): to steer, drive, handle skillfully (manus + operare). As with many words, this one comes from Latin through French. Manu operare means in Latin to work by hand.

manicure (n): a caring for the hands (manus + curare).

manifer (n): a gauntlet for protecting the left hand while holding the reigns of a horse.

manifest (adj, v): evident, plain, clear, obvious; to make clear or evident; (manus + infestus).

maniple (n): a handful. In the ancient Roman military, a subdivision of troops, about 60 to 100 soldiers.

manipulation (n): the act of influencing or managing. The manipulation of Latin roots helped him increase vocabulary.

manumotive (adj): movable by hand.

manure (n, v): a substance spread by manual labor to fertilize soil.

Latin Words & Phrases in English:

manus (n): legal power, as of Roman husband and father over his household.

marriage with manus: For Romans, marriage with manus meant a marriage in which the father of the bride gave full control to her new husband.

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