| The American Heritage® Book of English Usage. |
A Practical and Authoritative Guide to Contemporary English. 1996.
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8. Word Formation: Plurals, Possessives, Affixes, and Compounds
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| § 19. geo- |
| The basic meaning of the prefix geo- is “country or land.” It comes from the Greek prefix geo-, from the Greek word ge, meaning “earth” in the sense of “ground or land.” Thus geography (from Greek geo- plus graphia, “writing") is “the study of Earth and its surface features.” When used to form words in English, geo- can mean either “Earth” or “geography.” For example, geomagnetism refers to the magnetism of Earth, and geopolitics refers to the relationship between politics and geography. | 1 |
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| The American Heritage® Book of English Usage. Copyright © 1996 by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
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