PREFIX MEANING & EXAMPLES
In linguistics, a prefix is an affix (a type of morpheme) that is added to the beginning of a word to modify its meaning. It is a type of bound morpheme, which means it cannot stand alone as a word and must be attached to a base word to create a new word.
For example, in the word "unhappy," the prefix "un-" is added to the base word "happy" to create a new word that means "not happy." Similarly, in the word "preheat," the prefix "pre-" is added to the base word "heat" to create a new word that means "to heat beforehand."
Prefixes can be used to change the meaning of words in various ways, such as indicating negation, intensification, or direction. Some common prefixes in English include "un-" (not), "re-" (again), "pre-" (before), "post-" (after), "inter-" (between), and "mis-" (wrongly).
List of common prefixes:
- A- (not, without)
- Anti- (against, opposite of)
- Bi- (two)
- Co- (with, together)
- De- (opposite, away from)
- Dis- (not, opposite of)
- En-, Em- (put into, cause to be)
- Ex- (out of, away from)
- Fore- (before, in front of)
- Im-, In-, Il-, Ir- (not, opposite of)
- Inter- (between, among)
- Mis- (wrong, bad)
- Multi- (many, much)
- Non- (not)
- Over- (too much, above)
- Post- (after)
- Pre- (before, earlier than)
- Re- (again, back)
- Semi- (half, partly)
- Sub- (under, below)
- Super- (above, beyond)
- Trans- (across, through)
- Tri- (three)
- Un- (not, opposite of)
- Uni- (one)