Common Prefixes and Suffixes

What are Common Prefixes and Suffixes?

Prefixes are letters or groups of letters added to the beginning of a word, while suffixes are added to the end. Both prefixes and suffixes are affixes, and they change the meaning or grammatical function of a base word (also called a root word). Understanding common affixes is a powerful tool for expanding your vocabulary, as they often carry consistent meanings and can help you deduce the meaning of unfamiliar words.

1. Common Prefixes

Prefixes usually change the meaning of a word, often indicating negation, direction, quantity, or time. They generally do not change the word's part of speech.

a. Prefixes indicating negation or opposition:

• un-: happy → unhappy (not happy), do → undo (reverse an action)
• dis-: agree → disagree (not agree), connect → disconnect (break connection)
• in- / im- / il- / ir-: (forms of 'not')
  • complete → incomplete (not complete)
  • possible → impossible (not possible - before 'p', 'm', 'b')
  • legal → illegal (not legal - before 'l')
  • regular → irregular (not regular - before 'r')
• non-: sense → nonsense (lack of sense), profit → non-profit (not for profit)
• mis-: understand → misunderstand (understand incorrectly), spell → misspell (spell incorrectly)

b. Prefixes indicating repetition or reversal:

• re-: write → rewrite (write again), build → rebuild (build again)

c. Prefixes indicating size, quantity, or degree:

• mono-: tone → monotone (single tone)
• uni-: cycle → unicycle (one wheel)
• bi-: cycle → bicycle (two wheels)
• multi-: cultural → multicultural (many cultures)
• over-: cook → overcook (cook too much), sleep → oversleep (sleep too long)
• under-: estimate → underestimate (estimate too low), pay → underpay (pay too little)

d. Prefixes indicating time or order:

• pre-: view → preview (view before), historic → prehistoric (before history)
• post-: graduate → postgraduate (after graduation), war → post-war (after the war)
• ex-: president → ex-president (former president), wife → ex-wife (former wife)

2. Common Suffixes

Suffixes often change the grammatical category of a word (e.g., from verb to noun, or noun to adjective) and can also affect its meaning.

a. Suffixes forming Nouns:

• -tion / -sion: educate → education, express → expression (action, state, result)
• -ment: enjoy → enjoyment, agree → agreement (action, result, state)
• -ness: kind → kindness, sad → sadness (quality, state)
• -ity: active → activity, real → reality (quality, state)
• -er / -or: teach → teacher, invent → inventor (person who does something)
• -ist: art → artist, science → scientist (person involved in an activity or belief)

b. Suffixes forming Adjectives:

• -able / -ible: comfort → comfortable, access → accessible (able to be, capable of)
• -ful: beauty → beautiful, care → careful (full of, having)
• -less: hope → hopeless, care → careless (without)
• -ous: danger → dangerous, fame → famous (full of, characterized by)
• -y: rain → rainy, dirt → dirty (like, characterized by)
• -ic: hero → heroic, atom → atomic (relating to)

c. Suffixes forming Adverbs:

• -ly: quick → quickly, careful → carefully (in a ... manner)

d. Suffixes forming Verbs:

• -en: dark → darken, short → shorten (to make or become)
• -ize / -ise: standard → standardize, modern → modernize (to make, cause to be, or become)

Common Errors and How to Fix Them

Summary

💡 The key takeaway: Learning common prefixes and suffixes is like learning building blocks for words. They allow you to understand and create a vast number of words from a smaller set of base words, significantly boosting your vocabulary and comprehension skills.