Main content
Course: 6th grade reading and vocabulary (improved and expanded) > Unit 5
Lesson 3: Breaking down claims and argumentsResource | Vocabulary
Let’s explore the meaning and origin of the word “resource”.
Created by David Rheinstrom.
Want to join the conversation?
- I'm the second yay!(1 vote)
Video transcript
- [David] Gather your wits
about you, wordsmiths, because the word we're talking
about today is resource. Food in the pantry, diamonds in the mine, wealth, brain power. Resource. It's a noun. It means wealth, money, minerals, land, or other useful things. We can think of natural resources as things that come from the land, like timber or stone, or even things like clean
air and fresh water. These are resources too, to be cherished and protected. But it can also mean just like money. Someone with a lot of
resources at their disposal might have a lot of cash or connections. The derivation of this
word is intriguing to me. It comes from the French word resource, which means a spring, like
a natural source of water, and that ultimately comes
from the Latin resurgere, which means to rise up, to rise once more. Re or re, right, means
back or again or against. And surgere or source means to push up or forward like a wave. So let's see what we can
make out of those word parts. Re and surgere and source. 10 seconds, putting on music. Let's kick it. (upbeat music) Okay, here's what I've got. Resourceful, which is an adjective meaning clever and capable. A resourceful person knows
what to do in a pinch. Surge, which is a noun or a verb that means to push forward
like a wave, right? A power surge or like a crowd
surging forward at a concert. Using re again, we've got
resonate, which is to sound again. Something that resonates
is literally something that echoes, right? Re-sound, to sound again, and figuratively it's something that makes you feel a connection. The echo is happening inside of you. Let's try using resource
in a couple of sentences so you can see some of the
ways that we can use it. First, let's use it in the noun form. There's a lot of interest
in using the ocean's tides as a renewable energy resource. So the tides are a source of
electrical power, which is one of the ways in which they
might be valuable to a society. Personally, I like how the
tides expose little bits of beach glass that I collect in jars, but that's just me. Let's talk about the adjective form. Resourceful, someone who is
good at marshaling resources to meet their needs. Captain Corey was a
very resourceful pirate, always repurposing bits of shipwrecks to upgrade his own vessel. He took advantage,
right, of those resources that were available as he
sailed past shipwrecks, however those shipwrecks
happened to occur. Stay resourceful, wordsmiths.
You can learn anything. David out.