CAPIT = “head; chief”

Latin caput, cápĭtis

Spelling Note

At first glance, it might not seem that all these words are related. In the word chapter we see the c softened to ch and the i eliding (disappearing). Furthermore, in chef, we lose the t altogether, the p also softens to f, and the a changes to e, but that's where the word came from!

Also note that the root CAPIT comes from the genitive form (listed second above), which has an i in place of the u of <

Level One

[dict] capital the chief city (main city, head city) of a state or country, where the government is located

[dict] captain the head officer, especially of a ship

[dict] chapter division of a book; notice that we also use the terms "heading" and "subheading" for divisions of text

Level Two

[dict] capital wealth which can be invested in a business to generate more wealth; see chattel below

[dict] capitulate to surrender (the terms of surrender would be drawn up in chapters)

[dict] cattle originally (and as used in the KJV), any livestock indicating wealth by the number of head one owned (see chattel); now restricted in English to bovines [BOV]

[dict] chattel derived from capital in the sense of wealth indicated by the number of head of livestock one owned

[dict] chef from the French phrase chef de cuisine "head of the kitchen," now often used for any cook

[dict] chief via Old French, the "head" (leader) of an organization or tribe

[dict] da capo [DE] from Italian, meaning "to play from the beginning," literally "from the head" — in English we might say, "From the top!"

[dict] decapitate [DE] to behead; to remove the head

[dict] per capita [PER] how much per person; literally "by head"

[dict] recapitulate [RE] (often shortened to recap) to summarize, i.e., to "put back" under chapters or "headings"

Unique Form

[dict] biceps [BI] muscle in the arm with two "heads" (attachment points); adjective bicipital (note: in addition the the biceps brachii [BRACH] in the arm, there is also a biceps femoris [FEMOR] in the leg)

[dict] triceps [TRI] muscle in the arm with three "heads" (attachment points); adjective tricipital

[dict] quadriceps [QUADR] muscle in the leg with four "heads" (attachment points); adjective quadricipital

Level Three

[dict] capitate head-shaped

[dict] occipital [OB] the back of the head; noun occiput

[dict] sinciput [SEMI] the front of the head; adjective sincipital

Derivatives in Latinate Languages

es: cabeza
fr: chef (figurative sense; the part of the body is called tête)
it: capo (figurative sense; the part of the body is called testa)
pt: cabeça

French tête and Italian testa actually come from Latin testa (meaning "clay pot"), a figurative reference to the skull or possibly metonymy from helmet

Classical Roots of English Home Page

Build your vocabulary (and help people) at www.freerice.com!
(Unsolicited, uncompensated recommendation!)