PREFIX SUFFIX

 PREFIX/ SUFFIX

 Prefixes

A prefix is placed at the beginning of a word to modify or change its meaning. This is a list of the most common prefixes in English, together with their basic meaning and some examples. You can find more detail or precision for each prefix in any good dictionary.

A prefix goes at the beginning of a word. A suffix goes at the end of a word.

The origins of words are extremely complicated. You should use this list as a guide only, to help you understand possible meanings. But be very careful, because often what appears to be a prefix is not a prefix at all. Note also that this list does not include elements like "auto-" or " bio-", because these are "combining forms", not prefixes.

prefix		meaning	examples
a-	also an-	not, without	atheist, anaemic
a-		to, towards	aside, aback
		in the process of, in a particular state	a-hunting, aglow
a-		of	anew
		completely	abashed
ab-	also abs-	away, from	abdicate, abstract
ad-	also a-, ac-, af-, ag- al-, an-, ap-, at- as-, at-	movement to, change into, addition or increase	advance, adulterate, adjunct, ascend, affiliate, affirm, aggravate, alleviate, annotate, apprehend, arrive, assemble, attend
ante-		before, preceding	antecedent, ante-room
anti-	also ant-	opposing, against, the opposite	anti-aircraft, antibiotic, anticlimax, Antarctic
be-		all over, all around	bespatter, beset
		completely	bewitch, bemuse
		having, covered with	bejewelled
		affect with (added to nouns)	befog
		cause to be (added to adjectives)	becalm
com-	also co-, col-, con-, cor-	with, jointly, completely	combat, codriver, collude, confide, corrode
contra-		against, opposite	contraceptive
counter-		opposition, opposite direction	counter-attack, counteract
de-		down, away	descend, despair, depend, deduct
		completely	denude, denigrate
		removal, reversal	de-ice, decamp
dia-	also di-	through, across	diagonal
dis-	also di-	negation, removal, expulsion	disadvantage, dismount, disbud, disbar
en-	also em-	put into or on	engulf, enmesh
		bring into the condition of	enlighten, embitter
		intensification	entangle, enrage
ex-	also e-, ef-	out	exit, exclude, expand
		upward	exalt, extol
		completely	excruciate, exasperate
		previous	ex-wife
extra-		outside, beyond	extracurricular
hemi-		half	hemisphere
hyper-		beyond, more than, more than normal	hypersonic, hyperactive
hypo-		under	hypodermic, hypothermia
in-	also il-, im-	not, without	infertile, inappropriate, impossible
	also il-, im-, ir-	in, into, towards, inside	influence, influx, imbibe
infra-		below	infrared, infrastructure
inter-		between, among	interact, interchange
intra-		inside, within	intramural, intravenous
non-		absence, negation	non-smoker, non-alcoholic
ob-	also oc-, of-, op-	blocking, against, concealing	obstruct, occult, offend, oppose
out-		surpassing, exceeding	outperform
		external, away from	outbuilding, outboard
over-		excessively, completely	overconfident, overburdened, overjoyed
		upper, outer, over, above	overcoat, overcast
peri-		round, about	perimeter
post-		after in time or order	postpone
pre-		before in time, place, order or importance	pre-adolescent, prelude, precondition
pro-		favouring, in support of	pro-African
		acting for	proconsul
		motion forwards or away	propulsion
		before in time, place or order	prologue
re-		again	repaint, reappraise, reawake
semi-		half, partly	semicircle, semi-conscious
sub-	also suc-, suf-, sug-, sup-, sur-, sus-	at a lower position	submarine, subsoil
		lower in rank	sub-lieutenant
		nearly, approximately	sub-tropical
syn-	also sym-	in union, acting together	synchronize, symmetry
trans-		across, beyond	transnational, transatlantic
		into a different state	translate
ultra-		beyond	ultraviolet, ultrasonic
		extreme	ultramicroscopic
un-		not	unacceptable, unreal, unhappy, unmanned
		reversal or cancellation of action or state	unplug, unmask
under-		beneath, below	underarm, undercarriage
		lower in rank	undersecretary
		not enough	underdeveloped

SUFFIX

A suffix is a letter or a group of letters attached to the end of a word to form a new word or to change the grammatical function (or part of speech) of the word. 

For example, the verb read is made into the noun reader by adding the suffix -er. Similarly, read is made into the adjective readable by adding the suffix -able.

NOTE: In American English, verbs end with -ize, versus British English, in which the spelling changes to -ise.

• American English: finalize, realize, emphasize, standardize
• British English: finalise, realise, emphasise, standardise
• 
  

  
  

  

  
  
  
  

Suffix can make a new word in one of two ways:

1. inflectional (grammatical): for example, changing singular to plural (dog → dogs), or changing present tense to past tense (walk → walked). In this case, the basic meaning of the word does not change.
2. derivational (the new word has a new meaning, "derived" from the original word): for example, teach → teacher or care → careful

A suffix goes at the end of a word. A prefix goes at the beginning.

Inflectional suffixes

Inflectional suffixes do not change the meaning of the original word. So in "Every day I walk to school" and "Yesterday I walked to school", the words walk and walked have the same basic meaning. In "I have one car" and "I have two cars", the basic meaning of the words car and cars is exactly the same. In these cases, the suffix is added simply for grammatical "correctness". Look at these examples:

		example
suffix	grammatical change	original word	suffixed word
-s	plural	dog	dogs
-en	plural (irregular)	ox	oxen
-s	3rd person singular present	like	he likes
-ed	past tense past participle	work	he worked he has worked
-en	past participle (irregular)	eat	he has eaten
-ing	continuous/progressive	sleep	he is sleeping
-er	comparative	big	bigger
-est	superlative	big	the biggest

Derivational suffixes

With derivational suffixes, the new word has a new meaning, and is usually a different part of speech. But the new meaning is related to the old meaning - it is "derived" from the old meaning.

We can add more than one suffix, as in this example:

derive (verb) + ation → derivation (noun) + al → derivational (adjective)

There are several hundred derivational suffixes. Here are some of the more common ones:

suffix	making	example original word	example suffixed word
-ation	nouns	explore hesitate	exploration hesitation
-sion		persuade divide	persuasion division
-er		teach	teacher
-cian		music	musician
-ess		god	goddess
-ness		sad	sadness
-al		arrive	arrival
-ary		diction	dictionary
-ment		treat	treatment
-y		jealous victor	jealousy victory
-al	adjectives	accident	accidental
-ary		imagine	imaginary
-able		tax	taxable
-ly		brother	brotherly
-y		ease	easy
-ful		sorrow forget	sorrowful forgetful
-ly	adverbs	helpful	helpfully
-ize	verbs	terror private	terrorize privatize
-ate		hyphen	hyphenate

 

Prefix/ Suffix
Sl.No	Prefix	Meaning	Example
1	A, An	Without	Amoral, Apathy, Anharmonic, Anemia, Anonymous
2	Ab,  Abs	Away	Abnormal, Absent, Absolve, Absorb, Abnormal
3	Ad	To, Toward	Advice, Accept, Attract, Adjective, Advocate
4	All	Completely	Already, Always, Alone, All-round, Alright
5	Ambi	Both	Ambiguous, Ambivert, Ambiguously, Ambient, Amphibious
6	Ana	Up, Back	Analysis, Analogue, Analogy, Anabasis, Analytic
7	Ante	Before	Antecedent, Ante position, Ante type, Anteroom
8	Anti	Against	Antisocial, Antibody, Antivirus, Antibiotic, Antilog
9	Apo	Awya	Apology, Apocope, Apolexy, Apograph, Apostate
10	Arch	Chief	Architect, Architecture, Archrival, Archaeology
11	Auto	Self	Autograph, Autonomy, Automobile, Autonomous, Automatic
12	Be	Thoroughly	Behavior, Beloved, Bewail, Bestow, Become, Betide
13	Bi	Two	Bicycle, Bisect, Biennial, Bifocal, Binomial, Biweekly
14	Cata	Down	Catalogue, Cataract, Catatonia, Catalyst, Catabasis
15	Circum	Around	Circumstance, Circumvent, Circumcise, Circum neutral
16	Com	Together	Compound, Compute, Combine, Concept, Combat
17	Contra	Against	Contrast, Contrary, Controller, Contraposition, Contrarily
18	De	Down	Desire, Decision, Desire, Deformed, Derive, Debunk
19	Di	Twice	Dilemma, Dioxide, Divide, Digraph, Dicentric
20	Dia	Through	Diagonal, Diagram, Diameter, Dialect, Diaspora, Dispason
21	Dis	The opposite	Disagree, Different, Disaster, Disadvantage, Disease
22	Dys	Bad	Dyslexia, Dysfunction, Dyspepsia, Dystopia, Dysuria
23	Eco	house	Ecology, Economy, Ecocide, Ecologist, Ecotype
24	En, Em	In, Into	Enroll, Empoly, Empower, Endanger, Embark
25	Epi	Upon	Episode, Epiphyte, Epidemic, Epimyth, Eponym
26	Eu	Well	Euphori, Eulogy, Eugeny, Eupepsia, eutrohythmics
27	Ex	Out of	Excepinary, Expect, Excel, Excurdion, Export
28	Extra	Outside	Extraordinary, Extrajudical, Extrovert, Extavagant
29	Fore	In the front of	Foreword, Forecast, Foretell, Foreword, Forefinger
30	Hetero	Other	Heterodox, Heteronym, Heterotroph, Heterozygous
31	Homo	Same	Homogeneous, Homophone, Homomorph, Homograph
32	Hyper	Excessive	Hypersensitive, Hypertext, Hyperbola, Hyperactive
33	Hypo	Under	Hypocrisy, Hypocrisy, Hypothermia, Hypocrite
34	Il, Ir,	Not	Illegal, Irregular, Imperfect, Illegal,  illogical
35	In, Im,	In, Into	Inculde, Imprison, Inject, Influx, Imprison, Interior, Invisible,
36	Inter	Between	Intervention, Interchange, Intercourse, Interval
37	Intra	Within	Intremura, introvert, Introduce, Intravenous
38	Macro	Large	Macroeconomics, Macrometer, Macrobian, Macrometer
39	Mal	Bad	Malpractice, Malaria, Maladroit, Malcontent, Malediction
40	Mega	Great	Megabyte, Megastore, Megalith, Megaphone, Megaton
41	Meta	Change	Metabolism, Metamorphosis, Metaphysics, Metathesis
42	Micro	small	Microscope, Microphone, Microgram, Microbiology, Microfilm
43	Mini	Short	Minimize, Miniature, minimart, Minimal, Miniskirt
44	Mis	Wrong	Misunderstand, Misbehavior, Miscount, Mischange, Mischief
45	Mono	One	Monopoly, Monograph, Monodrama, Monarch, Monoglot
46	Neo	New	Neolithic, Neonatal, Neology, Neophyte, Neoliberal
47	Non	Not	Nonsense, Nonstop, Nonprofit, Nonpayment, Nonfiction
48	Ob, Op	Against	Obstacle, Object, Oppose, Obligate, Offend, Occur
49	Out	Outside	Outdoor, Outflow, Outlive, Outlet, Outsource, Outlook
50	Over	Too much	Overdose, Overact, Overcast, Over bridge, Overheat
51	Para	Beside	Parabola, Paradigm, Paradox, Parade, Parallel, Parasol
52	Per	Through	Perform, Perfect, Perannum, Percent, Percent, Perceive
53	Peri	Around	Perimeter, Period, Perinatal, Perinatal, Periscope
54	Poly	Many	Polyclinic, Polygon, Polymath, Polymer, Polyglot
55	Post	After	Postpone, Postmortem, Postpaid, posterity, Postcard
56	Pre	Before	Precaution, Prevent, Precede, Presume, Precept
57	Pro	Forward	Proceed, Purpose, Produce, Portray, Purview
58	Proto	First	Protocol, Prototype, Protozoa,  Protolog, Protozoology
59	Pseudo	Not genuine	Pseudoism, Pseudomorph, Pseudocide, Pseudoptics
60	Quadri	Four	Quadrilateral, Quadrangle, Quadrant, Quadruped, Quadruplet
61	Re	Again	Recall, Rebuild, Rejoin, Rewrite, Recycle, Retest, Remind
62	Retro	Backwards	Retrograde, Retrofit, Retroject, Retrocede, Retroverse
63	Se	Apart	Select, Secret ,Secede, Separate, Seclude, Segregation
64	Semi	Half	Semicircle, Semifinal, Semicircle, Semivowel, Semiconductor
65	Sub	Under	Subgroup, Subject, Suggestion, Suspect, Suppose, Suffer
66	Super	Over	Supervise, Superman, Surplus, Surround, Superstar
67	Syn	Together	Syndicate, Synonym, System, Symptom, Syndrome, Syllogism
68	Tele	Distance	Telephone, Televise, Telecast, Telegram, Telescope, Teletext
69	Trans	Across	Transport, Transfer, Traverse, Translate, Transmit
70	Ultra	Extremely	Ultrasonic, Ultrasound, Ultraism, Ultraist, Ultramodern
71	Un	Not	Unable, Unwilling, Unhappy, Unknown, Unlock
72	Under	Below	Underage, Underweight, Underground, Underarm
73	Uni	One	Uniform, Unanimous, unicycle, Unique, Union
74	Up	Higher	Upgrade, Upwind, Upper, Upturn, upstream, Upward
75	Vice	In place of	Vice-principal, Viceroy, Vice-admiral, Vice-caption
S.No	Word	Meaning	Example
1	Able	can be	Calculable,  comfortable,  believable,  payable,  eatable.
2	Acy	the state of	accuracy,  primacy,  pharmacy,  literacy,  numeracy.
3	Ade	result of an action	decade,  arcade,  comrade,  arcade,  limeade.
4	age	the state of	marriage, mileage, breakage, storage, carriage.
5	Al	connected with	medical,  mental, usual,  natural,  internal.
6	Ance	the action of	attendance ,  acceptance, assistance, distance,  balance.
7	Ancy	the state of	vacancy,   accountancy,  infancy, expectancy, consultancy.
8	Ant	being in the state	applicant,   brilliant,  instant, accountant, important.
9	Ar,Er,Or	a person	painter,   beggar,  dancer,  actor,  grammar.
10	Ary	connected with	stationary,  primary, dictionary, vocabulary.
11	Ate	cause to be	passionate,  deviate, liquidate,  Sulphate,  educate.
12	Ation	the action of	formation,  purification,   verification.
13	Cide	kill	homicide,   decide,  pesticide,   suicide,   ecocide.
14	Cracy	rule of	aristocracy,  democracy,   autocracy, plutocracy, gerontocracy.
15	Cule	very small	molecule, minuscule, ridicule,  crepuscule,  reticule.
16	Dom	the state of	stardom, freedom,  kingdom,  wisedom,   serfdom.
17	Ee	a person affected by an action	referee,  trustee,   devotee,  payee,  trainee.
18	En	made of	golden,  weaken,  soften,  lighten, smoothen.
19	Esce	to become	adolescence,  senescence,  senescent,  effervescent,  evanesce.
20	Est	most	interest,   fattest,  greatest, tallest, latest.
21	Ful	full of	beautiful, fearful,  helpful,  careful, useful.
22	Graphy	a form of writing	autobiography,  geography,   radiography,  photography.
23	hood	the state of	childhood,  boyhood,  fatherhood,  falsehood,  motherhood.
24	Ian	a specialist of	mathematician,  theologian,  grammarian,  technician.
25	Ic	connected with	historic,  dynamic,  poetic,  academic,  economic.
26	ics	the science	physics,   economics,  ethics,  mathematics, civics.
27	Id	being in the state	rapid,  humid,  turbid,   stupid, morbid.
28	Ify	to make	verify,  unify,  purify,  simplify,  satisfy,  solidify.
29	Ile	capable of	ductile,  puerile,  tacyile,  fertile,  mobile.
30	Ine	characteristic of	routine,  divine,  tirbine,  medicine, chlorine.
31	Ing	on going	healing,  interesting, shocking,  arresting,  spelling.
32	Ise	to make	exercise,   franchise,  advertise.
33	Ish	having the nature of	childish,  oldish,  reddish,  girlish,  Irish.
34	Ism	the system of	tourism,  terrorism,  realism, socialism, heroism.
35	Ist	a person	humanist,  naturalist, chemist,   novelist.
36	Ite	having the quality of	favorite , unite,  graphite,  sulphite.
37	Ity	the state of	clarity,  charity,    superiority,  acidity.
38	Ium	a place	stadium,  auditorium,  medium,  radium,  aquarium.
39	Ive	tending to	expensive,  adjective,  creative,  positive,  conjunction.
40	Less	without	hopeless,  helpless,  baseless,  painless,  useless.
41	ly	in the manner of	brotherly,  properly,  scholarly,   honestly.
42	Mania	mental illness	bibliomania,   anglomania,   egomania,   monomania .
43	Ment	the result of	agreement,  management, implement,  instrument.
44	Mony	state	parsimony,  testimony,   harmony,  alimony,  antimony.
45	Most	the furthest	almost,  topmost ,   backmost,  southernmost,   rearmost.
46	Ness	the state of	business,      weakness,   strangeness,    sadness,   richness.
47	Oid	similar to	humanoid,   asteroid,        aneroid,   steroid,   typhoid.
48	Ology	a subject of study	phraseology,   biology,        philology,  bacteriology,  oncology.
49	Osis	condition	neurosis,   psychosis,    scoliosis,  narcosis,  thrombosis.
50	Ous	the quality of	nervous,  poisonous,  glorious,   religious,  pervious.
51	Phobia	fear	homophobia,   Anglophobia,  pyrophobia, logophobia.
52	Ship	the status of	friendship,  championship,     fellowship,  scholarship,  township.
53	Some	likely to	handsome,  foursome,  winsome,  chromosome,  fearsome.
54	Th	ordinal number	fifth, death,  millionth,  growth,  health,  bath.
55	Tomy	cutting	lobotomy,  hystertomy,  colostomy,  laparotomy, dichotomy.
56	Tude	the state of	attitude,  altitude,  gratitude,  multitude,  solitude.
57	Ure	the process of	future,  procedure,  culture,  picture,   pleasure.
58	Ward	in the diection of	inward,  onward,  forward,  heavenward,  homeward.
59	Wise	in the manner of	streetwise,  crosswise,  likewise,  otherwise,  stepwise.
60	Y	tending to	crafty, sticky,   cheery,  dusty,  easy.