Prefixes Suffixes

A prefix is placed at the beginning of a word to modify or change its meaning. This is a list of the most common prefixes in English, together with their basic meaning and some examples. You can find more detail or precision for each prefix in any good dictionary. The origins of words are extremely complicated. You should use this list as a guide only, to help you understand possible meanings. But be very careful,

because often what appears to be a prefix is not a prefix at all. Note also that this list does not include elements like \"auto-\" or \" bio-\forms\Prefix a- also an- a- Meaning not, without to, towards in the process of, in a particular state of completely away, from movement to, change into, addition or Examples atheist, anaemic aside, aback a-hunting, aglow anew abashed abdicate, abstract advance, adulterate, adjunct, ascend, affiliate, affirm, aggravate, alleviate, annotate, apprehend, arrive, assemble, attend a- ab- also abs- ad- also a-, ac-, af-, ag- al-, an-, ap-, at- as-, at- ante- anti- also ant- be- com- also co-, col-, con-, cor- contra- counter- de- increase before, preceding opposing, against, the opposite all over, all around completely having, covered with affect with (added to nouns) cause to be (added to adjectives) with, jointly, completely against, opposite opposition, opposite direction down, away completely antecedent, ante-room anti-aircraft, antibiotic, anticlimax, Antarctic bespatter, beset bewitch, bemuse bejewelled befog becalm combat, codriver, collude, confide, corrode contraceptive counter-attack, counteract descend, despair, depend, deduct denude, denigrate diaalso di- - dis- also di- removal, reversal de-ice, decamp through, across diagonal negation, removal, expulsion put into or on bring into the condition of intensification out upward completely previous outside, beyond half beyond, more than, more than normal under not, without in, into, towards, disadvantage, dismount, disbud, disbar en- also em- engulf, enmesh enlighten, embitter entangle, enrage exit, exclude, expand exalt, extol excruciate, exasperate ex-wife extracurricular hemisphere hypersonic, hyperactive ex- also e-, ef- extra- hemi- hyper- hypo- in- also il-, im- also il-, im-, ir- hypodermic, hypothermia infertile, inappropriate, impossible influence, influx, imbibe infra- inter- intra- non- ob- also oc-, of-, op- out- over- peri- post- pre- pro- inside below between, among inside, within absence, negation blocking, against, concealing surpassing, exceeding external, away from excessively, completely upper, outer, over, above round, about after in time or order before in time, place, order or importance favouring, in infrared, infrastructure interact, interchange intramural, intravenous non-smoker, non-alcoholic obstruct, occult, offend, oppose outperform outbuilding, outboard overconfident, overburdened, overjoyed overcoat, overcast perimeter postpone pre-adolescent, prelude, precondition pro-African re- semi- subalso suc-, suf-, - sug-, sup-, sur-, sus- synalso sym- - trans- ultra- un- support of acting for motion forwards or away before in time, place or order again half, partly at a lower position lower in rank nearly, approximately in union, acting together across, beyond into a different state beyond extreme not reversal or proconsul propulsion prologue repaint, reappraise, reawake semicircle, semi-conscious submarine, subsoil sub-lieutenant sub-tropical synchronize, symmetry transnational, transatlantic translate ultraviolet, ultrasonic ultramicroscopic unacceptable, unreal, unhappy, unmanned unplug, unmask under- cancellation of action or state beneath, below lower in rank not enough underarm, undercarriage undersecretary underdeveloped A suffix goes at the end of a word. A goes at the beginning. Suffixes

A suffix is a group of letters placed at the end of a word to make a new word. A suffix can make a new word in one of two ways:

inflectional (grammatical): for example, changing singular to plural (dog > dogs),

or changing present tense to past tense (walk > walked). In this case, the basic meaning of the word does not change.


derivational (the new word has a new meaning, \"derived\" from the original word):

for example, teach > teacher or care > careful

Inflectional suffixes

Inflectional suffixes do not change the meaning of the original word. So in \"Every day I walk to school\" and \"Yesterday I walked to school\walk and walked have the same basic meaning. In \"I have one car\" and \"I have two carshe basic meaning of the words car and cars is exactly the same. In these cases,

the suffix is added simply for grammatical \"correctness\". Look at these examples: suffgrammatical change ix -s -en -s -ed plural plural (irregular) 3rd person singular present past tense past participle example original word dog ox like work example suffixed word dogs oxen he likes he worked he has worked he has eaten he is sleeping bigger the biggest -en past participle (irregular) eat -ing continuous/progressive sleep -er comparative -est superlative big big Derivational suffixes With derivational suffixes, the new word has a new meaning, and is usually a

different part of speech. But the new meaning is related to the old meaning - it is \"derived\" from the old meaning.

We can add more than one suffix, as in this example:

derive (verb) + tion = derivation (noun) + al = derivational (adjective)

There are several hundred derivational suffixes. Here are some of the more common ones: suffix making example original word nouns explore hesitate persuade divide teach music god sad arrive diction treat jealous victor adjectives accident example suffixed word exploration hesitation persuasion division teacher musician goddess sadness arrival dictionary treatment jealousy victory accidental -ation -sion -er -cian -ess -ness -al -ary -ment -y -al -ary -able -ly -y -ful -ly -ize adverbs verbs -ate Note that -er can convert almost any verb into the person or thing performing the action of the verb. For example: a teacher is a person who teaches, a lover loves, a killer kills, an observer observes, a walker walks, a runner runs; a sprinkler is a thing that sprinkles, a copier copies, a shredder shreds.

imagine tax brother ease sorrow forget helpful terror private hyphen imaginary taxable brotherly easy sorrowful forgetful helpfully terrorize privatize hyphenate