If you are going to be the Duke or Duchess of Word Roots, you are doing to have to know that the Latin root words duc and duct mean to ‘lead.’ Speaking of those words duke and duchess, they, of course, were and still are ‘leaders’ in the British peerage system, ranking just below the Queen and right ahead of the Marquis and Marquess.
Going from peers to repairs, today’s handyman can fix just about anything using duct tape. Duct tape was originally designed to be used with ducts, which simply refer to any tube or other enclosed passage which ‘leads’ air or fluid through it, such as the tear ducts in your eyes or the air conditioning ducts in your home.
When you introduce two people, you ‘lead’ them into knowledge of one another. This, in turn, will hopefully produce, or ‘lead’ forth yet another friendship. And yes, a product is an item that has been ‘led’ forth by a company, usually to be sold.
When you receive an education, you are ‘led’ forth into knowledge. For instance, you may recall when you learned what an aqueduct is, or bridgelike construction that ‘leads’ water over far distances. You may also have been taught how to use deductive reasoning, in which a conclusion is ‘led’ from a set of given facts.
When you spend money, it is deducted from your checking account, or ‘led’ away from it. When the balance changes in this negative fashion, it is reduced, or ‘led’ backwards towards zero.
When a criminal abducts someone, he ‘leads’ her away. This, of course, is bad conduct on his part, that is, not a way he should ‘lead’ or behave himself in public. On the other hand, when a conductor conducts, he skillfully ‘leads’ an orchestra to play well together.
Now that you have been sufficiently introduced to this productive word root, you won’t have to be given an education about any subsequent word that has this root, for you have become the Duchess or Duke of duc: to ‘lead’!
- duke: ‘leader’
- duchess: ‘leader’
- duct: tube which ‘leads’ a substance
- aqueduct: structure which ‘leads’ water
- introduce: ‘lead’ within
- educate: ‘lead’ forth
- abduct: ‘lead’ away
- product: item ‘led’ forth
- reduce: ‘lead’ back
- conduct: thoroughly ‘lead’
- conductor: one who thoroughly ‘leads’
- deduct: ‘lead’ down from