Etyma: Word Roots & Vocabulary
Etymology: GRE, SAT & TOEFL
Free · In‑App Purchases · Designed for iPad. Not verified for macOS.
Stop rote memorization. Break words into roots and affixes, understand where each word comes from, and remember it for good. One-time unlock, yours forever.
Etyma helps you learn English words through etymology. Master roots and affixes and you'll decode the meaning of new words, spell them correctly by their parts, and make fewer spelling mistakes — instead of memorizing letter by letter. Once you grasp building blocks like spect (to see), port (to carry), and vis (to see), hundreds of derived words fall into place.
■ Why start from roots & affixes
· Decode meaning — break a new word into its parts and infer what it means.
· Spell it right — remembering chunks like in + spect sticks better than letter-by-letter.
· Fewer mistakes — knowing patterns like -tion / -sion and ad- assimilation helps you avoid common misspellings.
■ Features
· Roots & Affixes Library
Roots and affixes organized by origin (Latin, Greek, Old English, French and more), each with meaning, IPA, etymology, mnemonics and derived words.
· Smart Decomposition
Type any word and see it broken into root + affixes to understand how it's built.
· Spaced Repetition
Reviews scheduled by the SM-2 algorithm, reminding you right before you forget for maximum efficiency.
· Daily Challenge
Ten questions a day across four formats to reinforce and test your mastery.
· Etymology Reading
Meet the roots you've learned in real context — highlighted and tappable for instant breakdown.
· Stats & Achievements
A 28-day heatmap, origin distribution, day streaks and 12 achievements make progress visible.
· Mistake Bank
Wrong answers are collected automatically; answer correctly twice in a row to graduate them.
■ Pricing
7-day free trial of all features. The first 5 roots, affixes and related words are free forever. A one-time purchase unlocks everything permanently — no subscription, no renewals.
■ Privacy
All data is stored on your device and works fully offline.
Start learning vocabulary the etymological way, and give every word a story you can trace.
Ratings & Reviews
- This app hasn’t received enough ratings or reviews to display an overview.
2.0 is the biggest update Etyma has had — it grows from "understanding roots" into "practising until they stick".
· A whole new practice system — four new question types (spelling, dictation, sentence gap-fill, and Chinese-to-English) join the existing meaning quiz, root assembly and flip-card self-check, so one word family can be drilled seven different ways. You now pick the type yourself instead of letting the app decide
· Mastery and the family map — every word carries its own mastery level that brightens as you practise. Open a family and the whole set lights up cell by cell, so what's solid and what's shaky is obvious at a glance
· Drill just the weak ones — pull out the words you're least sure of in a family and focus on those, instead of spending time on words you already know
· Mistakes come with an explanation — get a spelling or choice wrong and you'll see a morpheme-level comparison showing exactly which part slipped, not just a red cross
· Quizzes count — practice sessions now feed your streak and study heatmap, so the work you put in shows up
· A fuller daily challenge — set your own question count (5–50), and missed questions land in your mistake bank for review from the summary screen
· Long-press to jump — long-press any root, affix or word row and the shortcut menu opens grouped into Learn / Practise / Look up, so you don't have to open a detail page to find the entry point. Now covered consistently across every list in the app
· Lists show what you want — in word lists that same menu ends with toggles for phonetics, the meaning bridge, morpheme glosses, examples and collocations, and each list remembers its own setting. Compact when you're skimming, detailed when you're digging in
· A much fuller library — CET-4 collocations now reach 100% coverage (1,587 words), every entry has a real example sentence with context, and broken morpheme example links are down to zero
· Plenty of polish — tap a word for a half-sheet card, US/UK markers on phonetics, nicer share posters, and hundreds of smaller refinements
Thanks for using Etyma!
The developer, 可文 麦, indicated that the app’s privacy practices may include handling of data as described below. For more information, see the developer’s privacy policy .
Data Not Collected
The developer does not collect any data from this app.
Accessibility
The developer has not yet indicated which accessibility features this app supports. Learn More
Information
- Seller
- 可文 麦
- Size
- 28 MB
- Category
- Education
- Compatibility
Requires iOS 17.0 or later.
- iPhone
Requires iOS 17.0 or later. - iPad
Requires iPadOS 17.0 or later. - Mac
Requires macOS 14.0 or later and a Mac with Apple M1 chip or later. - Apple Vision
Requires visionOS 1.0 or later.
- iPhone
- Languages
- English and Simplified Chinese
- Age Rating
4+
- 4+
- In-App Purchases
Yes
- Lifetime Unlock $0.99
- Copyright
- © 2026 ByteLink
