Cretan Crud

The Latin root crescere means "to grow". This root turns up in a number of English words today, sometimes unnoticed.

• accrete, with the prefix "a-" meaning "towards", indicates that something is being added.
• The accretion disk of a celestial body is a disk formed by external matter that has been attracted to it by gravity.
• accrue, with the prefix "a-" meaning "towards", indicates that something is being added.
• concrete, with the prefix "con-" meaning "together", indicates that things are joining together.
• crescent, comes directly from "crescere", meaning "to grow". The crescent moon is viewed as growing horns. From this, we have the concept of a crescent shape.
• crescendo, comes directly from "crescere", and refers to a rising sequence in music, or to a rapidly advancing dramatic situation.
• decrease, with the prefix "de-" meaning "from oneself", describes an reduction of a given quantity or substance.
• excrement, with the prefix "ex-" meaning "away from oneself", indicates that something is being removed, expelled, or deleted.
• excrescence, with the prefix "ex-" meaning "away from oneself", describes a substance that is emitted or pushed out. This frequently refers to noxious bodily discharges.
• increase, with the prefix "in-" meaning "towards oneself", describes an addition to a given quantity or substance.
• increment, with the prefix "in-" meaning "towards oneself", indicates that something is being added.
• recruit, with the prefix "re-" meaning "again", originally meaning "to grow again".
• secret, with the prefix "se-" meaning "self", indicates that something is being added to oneself, that is, not shared.
• secrete, with the prefix "se-" meaning "self", indicates that something is being added to oneself, that is, not shared. Thus a gland "secretes" a substance, adding something from itself.

FALSE FRIENDS:

• cretaceous, comes from Latin "creta" meaning "chalk". The Cretaceous period describes a geologic era during which chalk beds were formed.
• discreet, comes from Latin "discretus", meaning separate or distinct, and then French "discreet" meaning "wise" or "circumspect".
• discrete, comes from Latin "discretus", meaning separate or distinct.
• syncretism, describing religions and other philosophies which are formed from elements of disparate origin, is not related to the Latin root crescere. Rather, it is of Greek origin (as, in particular, "syn-" is a Greek prefix). The remainder of the word is etymologically mysterious, and implausibly, people suppose it might have something to do with "Cretan", so they then have to spin a fabulous explanation for this!