Prefix and Suffix

Prefixes: meanings and use

The most commonly-used prefixes are those that change an adjective with a positive meaning into one with a negative or opposing meaning, for example: uncomfortable. Prefixes that change the word to a negative meaning include: in-, ir-, im- and dis-. Examples formed using this type of prefix are: inactive, irregular, impossible and dishonest.

Prefix	Meaning	Example
anti-	opposed/to prevent	antidote
counter-	opposite/ opposed to	counterproductive
de-	something is removed or reduced	de-activate
dis-	negative/opposite	disadvantage
ex-	former	ex-wife
extra-	outside/beyond	extra-curricular
fore-	before	forewarn
homo-	same	homosexual
hyper-	very/extremely	hyper-sensitive
il-	negative/opposite	illogical
im-	negative/opposite	immature
in-	negative/opposite	inexpensive
inter-	between	international
ir-	negative/opposite	irregular
mal-	bad/wrong	malpractice
mid-	middle	midwinter
mis-	bad/wrong	misplace
mono-	one	monorail
neo-	new	neoclassical
non-	not	nondescript
omni-	all	omnivore
out-	outside/beyond/bigger	outweigh
pre-	before	pre-date
re-	again	re-arrange
semi-	half	semicircle
sub-	under	submerge
super-	bigger/more powerful	superhero
un-	negative/opposite	unbelievable
under-	beneath/not enough	underplay

Some groups of prefixes have very specific meanings and uses. The table below summarises the most common prefixes for metric measures, those that describe multiples of units and those indicating fractions of units.

Prefix	Meaning	Example
deca-	ten times a unit	decathlon
kilo-	one thousand times a unit	kilometre
mega-	one million times a unit	megabyte
giga-	one billion units	gigawatt
deci-	one tenth of a unit	decilitre
centi-	one hundredth of a unit	centimetre
milli-	one thousandth of a unit	millimetre
micro-	one millionth of a unit (also means extremely small)	micro-organism

 

Suffixes: common suffixes for nouns & adjectives

Suffixes enable root words to change in different ways in order to form different classes of word. For example, the root word ‘create’ can be modified to creation (noun), creative (adjective) and creatively (adverb). Different classes of words (nouns, verbs, adjectives) have their own common suffixes.

Common suffixes for adjectives	Example		Common noun suffixes	Example
-able / -ible	adorable terrible		-ance / -ence	endurance conscience
-ant / -ent	pleasant confident		-ant	contestant
-ate	passionate		-dom	freedom
-ful	wonderful		-ee	employee
-ian	Canadian		-er / -or	painter conductor
-ic	energetic		-ery	scenery
-ical	methodical		-hood	neighbourhood
-ish	selfish		-ion	election
-ive	positive		-ism	socialism
-less	pointless		-ist	novelist
-like	business-like		-ity	regularity
-ous	adventurous		-ment	improvement
-some	wearisome		-ness	sadness
-y	noisy		-ship	friendship
			-ure	closure

 

Adverb suffixes	Examples		Verb suffixes	Examples
-ly	quickly		-en	eaten
-wise	clockwise		-ise	energise
-ward	northward		-ate	alternate