Terminology Guide — printable binder packet

Bright Minds Physics · Course Pack

Terminology Guide — The Construction Kit

Reference

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Physics vocabulary is not a random pile of words to be hauled into memory one at a time — it is a construction kit. Nearly every technical term is built from a small set of Greek and Latin parts snapped together. Know that centri- means center and -petal means seeking, and centripetal announces itself — no more confusing centripetal and centrifugal on a test. Memorizing words is linear; learning roots is exponential — thirty parts unlock several hundred words.

The habit that scales

Keep a running roots-and-symbols page at the back of the lab notebook; add to it every time a new prefix, suffix, or unit symbol appears. When you hit an unfamiliar term, break it apart out loud and guess the meaning before you look it up — that retrieval is what fixes the part in memory.

The core roots

Part	Meaning	Example & what it tells you
kine- / -matics	motion	kinematics — the study of motion without its causes.
dyna-	force, power	dynamics — motion and the forces that cause it.
veloc-	swift	velocity — speed with a direction attached.
accel-	to hasten	acceleration — how fast velocity itself is changing.
grav-	heavy	gravitation — the mutual pull between masses.
centri- / centro-	center	centripetal — a force pointing toward the center.
-petal / -fugal	seeking / fleeing	petal seeks the center, fugal flees it.
peri- / apo-	near / far	perigee is an orbit’s nearest point, apogee its farthest.
iso-	equal, same	isochronous — each swing takes an equal time.
chrono- / -chron-	time	chronometer — a clock that keeps precise time.
thermo- / -thermic	heat	thermometer — anything to do with heat.

Terminology Guide · continued

Core Roots, Continued & Unit Clusters

Reference

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Part	Meaning	Example & what it tells you
baro-	weight, pressure	barometer — measures the pressure of the air.
-stat / statics	standing, at rest	statics — bodies at rest or forces in balance.
flu- / fluid-	to flow	fluid — anything that flows: a liquid or a gas.
dens-	thick, packed	density — mass packed into a given volume.
torqu-	to twist	torque — the twisting effect of a force about a pivot.
ampl- / -tude	size, magnitude	amplitude — the greatest displacement from rest.
kilo-, milli-, micro-	×1000, ÷1000, ÷million	kilometer, millisecond — SI prefixes that scale a unit.
-metry / -meter	measure	odometer — a tool that measures distance.
SI symbols	the base units	m, kg, s — plus N, J, W, Pa, Hz built from them.

High-value clusters by unit

Motion & the laws of force — kine-, dyna-, veloc-, accel-. Plus two distinctions students trip on: distance vs displacement, and speed vs velocity.
Circular motion & gravitation — centri-, -petal/-fugal, peri-/apo-, grav-. Centripetal, centrifugal, perigee, apogee — the whole vocabulary of anything that orbits or turns.
Energy, momentum & SHM — -tude, ampl-, iso-, chrono-, thermo-. Amplitude, period, frequency — and the scalar-vs-vector distinction.
Torque, rotation & fluids — torqu-, baro-, flu-, dens-, statics. Torque, density, pressure, buoyancy — plus mass vs weight, and the SI symbols m, kg, s, N, J, W, Pa, Hz.

How to actually use this

Don’t swallow the table in one sitting. Keep this page open during reading and lab; each time you meet an unfamiliar term, name the parts, guess the meaning, then check. The habit leaves your effort free for the part of physics that actually rewards it — the problem-solving.