These prefixes and suffixes are some of the most common in English, and many have Latin or Greek roots, reflecting the deep influence of both languages on English vocabulary. Understanding their meanings and how they attach to base words can help expand vocabulary and clarify word formation patterns.
Tips for Usage
- Changing Adjectives into Verbs: Suffixes like -ify and -ize often transform adjectives (or nouns) into verbs (e.g., pure → purify, modern → modernize).
- Creating Abstract Nouns: Suffixes like -tion, -ment, and -ness turn verbs or adjectives into nouns describing actions, states, or qualities (e.g., act → action, agree → agreement, happy → happiness).
- Forming Adjectives from Nouns: Suffixes like -ous, -ic, -ical, and -ive often transform nouns into descriptive adjectives (e.g., poison → poisonous, hero → heroic, effect → effective).
Common Prefixes
- un-
- Origin: Old English (ultimately Germanic, not from Latin or Greek but very common in English)
- Meaning: “not,” “opposite of,” or “reversal of an action”
- Usage: Often turns a positive word into its negative form.
- Examples: unhappy (not happy), unload (remove load)
- re-
- Origin: Latin re- meaning “again” or “back”
- Meaning: “again,” “back”
- Usage: Often forms verbs that indicate repetition or returning to a previous state.
- Examples: redo (do again), rebuild (build again), return (come back)
- in- / im- / il- / ir-
- Origin: Latin in- meaning “not” or “into” (depending on context)
- Meaning: “not,” or “into/within” (the form changes to im-, il-, or ir- based on the following consonant)
- Usage: Commonly forms adjectives meaning “not + adjective.”
- Examples: inaccurate (not accurate), impossible (not possible), illegal (not legal), irrational (not rational)
- dis-
- Origin: Latin dis- meaning “apart,” “asunder,” “away”
- Meaning: “not,” “opposite of,” “remove”
- Usage: Commonly negates or reverses the meaning of a verb or adjective.
- Examples: disagree (not agree), disappear (go away), disinfect (remove infection)
- en- / em-
- Origin: French (from Latin in-)
- Meaning: “cause to be in,” “to put into,” “to go into or onto”
- Usage: Often creates verbs that mean “to cause to have a certain quality” or “to put into a state.”
- Examples: enable (make able), enclose (put in close quarters), empower (give power)
- pre-
- Origin: Latin prae- meaning “before”
- Meaning: “before,” “in advance”
- Usage: Forms words indicating an action or state coming before something else.
- Examples: preview (see beforehand), predetermine (determine in advance), pretest (test beforehand)
- sub-
- Origin: Latin sub- meaning “under,” “below”
- Meaning: “under,” “below”
- Usage: Often used to form nouns or adjectives referring to something beneath or subordinate.
- Examples: submarine (under the sea), subway (under the way), substandard (below standard)
- inter-
- Origin: Latin inter- meaning “between,” “among”
- Meaning: “between,” “among,” “mutually”
- Usage: Often used with nouns and adjectives that convey “between or among groups/things.”
- Examples: international (between nations), interpersonal (between persons)
- trans-
- Origin: Latin trans- meaning “across,” “beyond,” “through”
- Meaning: “across,” “beyond,” “change”
- Usage: Creates verbs, adjectives, or nouns indicating movement across or a change from one state to another.
- Examples: translate (carry meaning across languages), transform (change form), transatlantic (across the Atlantic)
- anti-
- Origin: Greek anti- meaning “against,” “opposite”
- Meaning: “against,” “opposite of”
- Usage: Often used to form adjectives or nouns that oppose something.
- Examples: antibiotic (against life of bacteria), antidote (against poison), antithesis (opposite idea)
- de-
- Origin: Latin de- meaning “down,” “away,” “removal,” or “reversal”
- Meaning: Can signify removal, reversal, or reduction.
- Usage: Often forms verbs that mean “remove” or “reverse an action.”
- Examples: deactivate (make inactive), degrade (reduce in quality), debug (remove bugs)
- mis-
- Origin: Old English (Germanic origin)
- Meaning: “wrongly,” “incorrectly”
- Usage: Forms verbs and nouns indicating an incorrect action or misunderstanding.
- Examples: misunderstand (understand incorrectly), misplace (place wrongly), mislabel (label incorrectly)
- over-
- Origin: Old English (Germanic origin)
- Meaning: “excess,” “above,” “too much”
- Usage: Often creates verbs or adjectives indicating something is done too much or beyond the normal limit.
- Examples: overcook (cook too much), overreact (react too strongly)
- under-
- Origin: Old English (Germanic origin)
- Meaning: “not enough,” “below,” “beneath”
- Usage: Forms verbs or adjectives indicating something is done too little or exists beneath something else.
- Examples: undervalue (value too little), undergo (go beneath or experience)
Common Suffixes
- -able / -ible
- Origin: Latin -abilis, -ibilis meaning “capable of being,” “worthy of”
- Meaning: “capable of,” “able to be”
- Usage: Attaches to verbs to form adjectives.
- Examples: portable (able to be carried), audible (able to be heard), reliable (able to be relied on)
- -tion / -sion / -ion
- Origin: Latin -tionem (accusative of -tio), -ionem
- Meaning: Forms nouns of action, condition, or result
- Usage: Attaches to verbs to form abstract nouns.
- Examples: creation (result of creating), decision (result of deciding), illusion (act/result of deceiving)
- -ment
- Origin: Latin -mentum
- Meaning: Denotes the action, result, or product of a verb
- Usage: Attaches to verbs to form nouns describing an action or its result.
- Examples: payment (result of paying), development (result of developing), agreement (result of agreeing)
- -ness
- Origin: Old English -nes(s)
- Meaning: Denotes a state, quality, or condition
- Usage: Attaches to adjectives to form nouns describing a state or quality.
- Examples: happiness (state of being happy), kindness (quality of being kind)
- -ly
- Origin: Old English -līc (adjective form), from Germanic
- Meaning: “in the manner of” when forming adverbs; can also form adjectives denoting characteristic of something
- Usage:
- As an adverb suffix, it modifies verbs to describe “how” an action is done.
- As an adjective suffix (less common), it describes having the quality of something.
- Examples: quickly (in a quick manner), friendly (having the quality of a friend), carefully (in a careful manner)
- -er / -or
- Origin: Latin -or; Germanic -er
- Meaning: “one who” or “that which” performs an action (when forming nouns)
- Usage: Attaches to verbs to create a noun indicating an agent or doer of the action.
- Examples: teacher (one who teaches), creator (one who creates), speaker (one who speaks)
- -ing
- Origin: Old English -ing
- Meaning: Marks the present participle of verbs; also forms gerunds (verb forms used as nouns)
- Usage:
- As a verb form (present participle), indicates ongoing action.
- As a noun form (gerund), names the action.
- Examples: running (in progress), singing (act of singing)
- -ed
- Origin: Old English -ed, -d, -t
- Meaning: Forms the past tense or past participle of regular verbs; can also form adjectives describing a condition or quality
- Usage:
- Verb form: indicates completed action in the past.
- Adjective form: describes having a characteristic (e.g., red-faced, talented).
- Examples: walked (past tense of walk), excited (in a state of excitement)
- -ic / -ical
- Origin: Greek -ikos, Latin -icus
- Meaning: “related to,” “pertaining to”
- Usage: Attaches to nouns (often from Greek or Latin roots) to form adjectives.
- Examples: basic (pertaining to a base), chemical (related to chemicals), geometric (pertaining to geometry)
- -ive
- Origin: Latin -ivus
- Meaning: “having the nature of,” “tending to”
- Usage: Forms adjectives from verbs, describing a quality or tendency.
- Examples: active (tending to act), talkative (tending to talk)
- -ous / -ious / -eous
- Origin: Latin -osus (full of)
- Meaning: “full of,” “characterized by”
- Usage: Attaches mainly to nouns to form adjectives.
- Examples: dangerous (full of danger), studious (full of study), courageous (full of courage)
- -ify / -fy
- Origin: Latin -ficare (from facere, “to make”)
- Meaning: “to make,” “to cause to become”
- Usage: Forms verbs that indicate transformation or causing a change.
- Examples: clarify (make clear), magnify (make larger), verify (make true, check truth)
- -ise / -ize
- Origin: Greek -izein, via Latin and French
- Meaning: “to render,” “to make,” “to convert into”
- Usage: Creates verbs from nouns or adjectives, indicating the action of rendering something into a new state.
- Examples: modernize (make modern), realize (make real/understand), harmonize (make harmonious)
- -ship
- Origin: Old English -scipe
- Meaning: “state,” “condition,” “quality”
- Usage: Forms nouns denoting status, condition, or relationship.
- Examples: friendship (state of being friends), leadership (quality of leading), partnership (state of being partners)
- -ology
- Origin: Greek -logia meaning “the study of” (from logos, “word,” “reason,” or “discourse”)
- Meaning: “the study of,” “the science of”
- Usage: Creates nouns referring to fields of study.
- Examples: biology (study of life), psychology (study of the mind), geology (study of the earth) of”
Practice converting words with these prefixes and suffixes to expand your vocabulary exponentially!