Below is an abbreviated list of essential root words, prefixes and suffixes.

ROOT	MEANING	ROOT	MEANING
a	without, not	iso	equal
arthro	joint	logos/logy	the study of
auto	self	karyo	kernal or nut
bi	two	lyse	destruction, dissolve
bio	life, living	multi	many
carn	flesh	pes/pedi/pod	foot
cephal/cephalo	head	phile/philic	loving
cyto/cyte	cell, hollow	photo	light
di	two	phyll	leaf
derm	skin	pro	before, in front of
endo	in, internal	spermato	sperm, seed
exo	exit, external	tetra	four
gam/gamo	marriage, sexual	tri	three
genesis, genic	origin, birth, producing	trop	turning
hetero	different, other	troph	feeder
hyper	above	un	one
hypo	beneath	zo	animal

(source)