duc

lead

Quick Summary

The Latin root words duc and duct mean to ‘lead.’ Some common English vocabulary words that come from this root word include educate, reduce, produce, and product. Perhaps the best way to remember this root word is to think of someone who is educated, or has been ‘led’ forth into knowledge.

Dukes of 'Duc'

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’!

  1. duke: ‘leader’
  2. duchess: ‘leader’
  3. duct: tube which ‘leads’ a substance
  4. aqueduct: structure which ‘leads’ water
  5. introduce: ‘lead’ within
  6. educate: ‘lead’ forth
  7. abduct: ‘lead’ away
  8. product: item ‘led’ forth
  9. reduce: ‘lead’ back
  10. conduct: thoroughly ‘lead’
  11. conductor: one who thoroughly ‘leads’
  12. deduct: ‘lead’ down from

Usage

  • traduce

    If you traduce someone, you deliberately say hurtful and untrue things to damage their reputation.

  • adduce

    When you adduce, you give facts and examples in order to prove that something is true.

  • conducive

    A conducive agent is something that is favorable or helpful in getting something to happen.

  • induce

    To induce a state is to bring it about; to induce someone to do something is to persuade them to do it.

  • subdue

    When you subdue something, such as an enemy or emotions, you defeat or bring them under control.

  • introduce

    When you introduce two people, you present them to each other so they can get to know one another.

  • reduce

    When you reduce something, you make it smaller in size or amount.

  • conduce

    be conducive to

  • deduce

    reason by deduction

  • deducible

    capable of being deduced

  • duchess

    the wife of a duke or a woman holding ducal title in her own right

  • duchy

    the domain controlled by a duke or duchess

  • duke

    a British peer of the highest rank

  • educative

    resulting in education

  • educator

    someone who educates young people

  • educe

    deduce (a principle) or construe (a meaning)

  • inducement

    a positive motivational influence

  • ineducable

    not able to be taught

  • irreducible

    incapable of being made smaller or simpler

  • produce

    things that have been grown on a farm, including meats

  • reproduce

    make a copy or equivalent of

  • reproducibility

    the quality of being reproducible

  • reproducible

    capable of being reproduced

  • seduce

    induce to have sex

  • uneducated

    not having a good education

Related Word Parts

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