I guess you know what a bicycle is. How many wheels
does a bicycle have? Two, right? So what would you call the picture
on the left? It doesn't have two wheels, it has three. It is called a
tricycle. Tri- means three. Bi- means two.
Uni- means one. What do you think something with one wheel would be
called? It is called a unicycle.
Here are more:
Uni= 1- example: uniform. Many students wear
uniforms. Everyone wears the same style (one kind) of clothes.
Bi= 2- example: bilingual. Two languages. Someone
who speaks two languages is bilingual.
Tri= 3- example: triangle. A shape with three
sides.
Quad= 4- example: quadriplegic.
Quint= 5- example: quintuplet. Five babies that
are born from the same mother at the same time.
Multi= Many- example: multitalented. Someone who
has many talents is multitalented.
There are other words that are similar to these. We will look at those
another time.
Try this out.
Check your answers by clicking on the arrows.
1. Some people (especially older people) wear special glasses so they
can see two distances- near and far. These kind glasses are called ___focals.
uni
bi
tri
quad
quint
multi
2. Sometimes corn can mean horn, or the things some animals like
cows have on their heads. A special kind of horse (not real) has one horn
on its head. It is called a ___corn.
uni
bi
tri
quad
quint
multi
3. -lateral means a side. Unilateral means only one side. Bilateral
means two sides. ___lateral means many sides.
uni
bi
tri
quad
quint
multi
6. Quintuplets are five babies born to the same mother at the same
time. ___ruplets are four babies born to the same mother at the same time.
By the way, two babies are called twins and three babies are called
triplets.
uni
bi
tri
quad
quint
multi
4. Bilingual means speaking two languages. ___lingual means speaking
three languages.