Question

Sort the words according to the meanings of their shared roots.
Armor, army, armistice, armadillo, gradual, graduate
Is it shield or step

Answer 1

Group 1 — root meaning “arms/armor” (shield, weapon)
- Armor — from Old French armure, Latin armatura / arma “arms, armor”
- Army — from Old French arme(e), from Latin arma “arms” (an armed force)
- Armistice — from Latin arma + sistere “to stand”; literally “a stopping of arms”
- Armadillo — Spanish armadillo “little armored one” (from armadura “armor”)

Group 2 — root meaning “step”
- Gradual — from Latin gradus “step”
- Graduate — from Latin graduatus / gradus “step” (to take a step or stage)

So the “arm-” words are from the shield/arms root; the “grad-” words are from the step root.