Prefixes and Suffixes

When you see a word you don’t know, that word might have a prefix or suffix that can help you understand it.

When this group of letters is at the front of a word, it is called a prefix.  Prefixes usually change the meaning of the word.

When this group of letters is at the end of a word, it is called a suffix.  Suffixes usually change the part of speech (e.g. a noun becomes a verb, a verb becomes an adjective,…)

The basic part of a word is called the root.  We add prefixes and suffixes to roots to create new words.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Look at the word unreadable:

• The read means ‘to understand the meaning of words in written or printed material’.
• The prefix un- means ‘not’.
• The suffix -able indicates that the word is an adjective.

Something that is unreadable is some words on a page or screen that cannot be understood.

Now look at the word autobiographical.

• The root graph means ‘writing’.
• The prefix auto- means ‘by oneself’.
• The prefix bio- means ‘life‘
• The suffix -ical means ‘having to do with’ and indicates that the word is an adjective.

Autobiographical is related to a life story written by that person.

If you knew these word parts, you might be able to guess the meaning of the word.  You might not need to use a dictionary.  You may not always know the exact meaning of the word, but you can make a reasonable guess, and, if you use the context of the sentence, you should have a good idea if you are correct.

A good understanding of basic prefixes and suffixes will help you understand the meanings of words without using a dictionary.

Prefixes usually change just the meaning of the root – not the part of speech.  They tell us many things about a word, such things as whether a root is negative or positive, when something happened, or how much of something exists.

Negative:

Prefix	Meaning		Example	Meaning
a-	not, without		amoral	not moral or good
anti-	against		antisocial	not friendly
contra-	against		contradict	be against something someone has said
ex-	former		ex-student	no longer a student
il-	not		illegal	not legal
im-	not		impossible	not possible
in-	not		insensitive	not sensitive
ir-	not		irresponsible	not responsible
mal-	badly		malformed	badly formed or shaped
mis-	wrongly		misguided	wrongly directed
non-	not		nonrefundable	not refundable
un-	not		unable	not able

Time:

Prefix	Meaning		Example	Meaning
ante-	before		antedate	happening before something else
post-	after		postmortem	after death
pre-	before		prerequisite	a requirement before you can do something

Number:

Prefix	Meaning		Example	Meaning
bi-	two		bicycle	a cycle having two wheels
mono-	one		monologue	one person talking
multi-	many		multifaceted	having many sides
poly-	many		polymorphous	having many shapes
tri-	three		tricycle	a cycle having three wheels
uni-	one		unicycle	a cycle having one wheel
under-	not enough		underpay	not being paid enough

Placement:

Prefix	Meaning		Example	Meaning
ab-	away from		abnormal	not normal
circum-	around		circumvent	go around
com-	with, together		communicate	talk with someone else
de-	down from		descend	go down
dis-	away		disembark	get off or out of a plane, boat, etc.
ex-	out of		expel	push something out
inter-	among		interview	see someone to ask them questions
per-	through		perceive	see through something and understand
sub-	under		subterranean	under ground
super-	above		supersede	be placed above something else
trans-	across		transportation	carry goods across a distance

Other Common Prefixes:

Prefix	Meaning		Example	Meaning
auto-	of or by oneself		autopilot	a plane directing itself
re-	again		rewrite	write something again
micro-	small		microscope	a glass used for looking at small things
over-	too much		overdo	do too much
pro-	in favor of		pro-government	supporting the government
pseudo-	false		pseudo-scientist	not a real scientist

Common Suffixes – Suffixes come at the end of the word and tell you whether a word is a noun, adjective, verb, or adverb.

Common Noun Suffixes

Suffix	Meaning		Example	Meaning
-dom	state or quality of		wisdom kingdom	the state of being wise an area belonging to a king
-hood			statehood	being a legal state rather than a territory
-ion			union	the state of being united
-ism			communism	the state of being communal
-ity			eligibility	the state of being eligible
-ment			appeasement	the state of appeasing

 

Suffix	Meaning		Example	Meaning
-able	can be done		transportable drinkable washable	able to be moved able to be drunk able to be washed
-ible			edible flexible	able to be eaten able to be bent

 

Suffix	Meaning		Example	Meaning
-al	related to		regal	related to royalty
-ance			resistance	related to the ability to resist
-ence			independence	related to being able to function alone
-ic			caloric	related to the number of calories

 

Suffix	Meaning		Example	Meaning
-er	one who		teacher	a person who teaches
-ite			parasite	a person/thing that lives off another
-or			mentor	a person who gives advice
-ist			scientist	a person who studies science

 

Suffix	Meaning		Example	Meaning
-ful	full of		beautiful	full of beauty
-y			sappy	full of foolish sentiment