Prefixes Word beginnings

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Prefixes, along with suffixes and word roots, are a useful way to build vocabulary. This page explains what prefixes are and gives examples of some common prefixes. At the end there are some exercises to help you practise.

What are prefixes?

As noted in the section on vocabulary building, prefixes are word components which are added to the beginning of a word. They usually change the meaning rather than the word form. Although most prefixes are Latin in origin, many come from Greek or Anglo-Saxon, with the result that there may be more than one prefix with the same meaning. For example, uni- (from Latin) and mono- (from Greek) both mean one, e.g. universe (everything that exists) and monolingual (one language, e.g. a monolingual dictionary). Prefixes from one language origin usually combine with a root of the same language, although this is not always the case; in fact, the word monolingual is an example of mixed languages, as mono- is Greek while lingual is from Latin. Some prefixes with the same meaning and origin have more than one form, often because of spelling rules and the sounds which follow them. For example, the negative prefix in- becomes im- when followed by an -m- or -p- (immodest, impossible), il- when followed by an -l- (illogical) and so on.

Common prefixes

The following table shows some common prefixes, with their meaning and some example words. They are grouped according to their general meaning (negative prefixes, number prefixes and so on). They are listed alphabetically in each section except for number prefixes, which are listed in order of the numbers they represent. They are colour-coded according to language of origin: Greek prefixes in green, Latin prefixes in red, other prefixes in black. Many Greek and Latin prefixes occur in pairs with the same meaning.

General meaning	Prefix	Meaning	Examples
negative	a(n)-	without, not	anaesthetic, atheist, amoral
	de-, dis-	not, opposite	defrost, devalue, deselect, disagree, disappear, disallow, disadvantage
	in-, im-, il-, ir-	not	injustice, impossible, illogical, irregular
	mis-	wrongly	mistake, misinform, misconduct, mismanagement
	non-, un-	not	nonsense, non-conformity, non-traditional, unfriendly, unable, unreal, unhappy
number	hemi-, semi-	half	hemisphere, semicircle, semi-final, semiconscious
	mono-, uni-	one	monolingual, monopoly, uniform, universe
	di-, bi-, du(o)	two	dichotomy, bicycle, bilingual, duet
	tri-	three	triple, triangle
	deca-, deci-, decem-	ten	decade, decimal, December (the tenth month in the ancient Roman calendar)
	cent(e)-	hundred	century, centipede, cent
	kilo-, milli-, mille-	thousand	kilobyte, kilogram, millennium, millisecond
	mega-, magna-	million	megabyte, megaton, magnify, magnificent, magnitude
	poly-, multi-	many	multiple, multi-national, polygon, polysyllable
position (space)	ex-	out	exit, extinguish, extract, exhale
	exo-, ecto-, extra-, extro-	outside	exoskeleton, extraordinary, extrovert
	in-	in, into, inside	insight, inpatient
	inter-	between	interact, interference, interrupt, intervene
	intra-, intro-	within	intravenous, introvert
	mid-	middle	midway
	out-	out, outside	outbuilding, outpatient
	peri-, circum-	around	circumference, circumscribe, peripheral, periscope
	sub-, under-	under	submarine, subset, subdivision, subway, undersea, underwater
	tele-	distant	telecommunications, television, telephone
	trans-	across	transportation, transmit, transform
position (time)	ante-, pre-, fore-	before	antecedent, antebellum, forecast, foresee, prefix, predict
position (time)	post-	after	postwar, postgraduate, postpone
quantity	hyper-, over-	excessive, too much	hyperactive, hypertension, oversleep, overwork, overeat, overdo
quantity	hypo-, under-	insufficient, not enough	hypodermic, hypothetical, underpay, underworked, underused, undervalue
quality	eu-, ben-	good, normal	eugenics, eulogy, benefit, benign
quality	dys-, mal-	bad	dysfunctional, malfunction, maltreatment, malnutrition
relationship	sym-, syn-, co(m)-, con-	with, together	sympathy, synthetic, co-operate, communicate, companion, concurrent
relationship	anti-, contra-, counter-	against	anticlimax, antibiotic, antioxidant, contradict, counteract, counter-argument
size	macro-	large	macrocosm, macro-economics
size	micro-, mini-	small	microbe, microscope, micro-economics, miniature, mini-computer
more	out-	more, better	outperform, outbid, outdo
	super-, ultra-	more than, beyond	superlative, superpower, superstar, ultrasound, ultrasonic
	sur-	over and above	surcharge
other	auto-	self	autobiography, automobile, autonomous
	be-	make or cause	befriend, belittle
	en-, em-	cause to	encode, enlarge, embrace, enliven
	ex-	former	ex-chairman, ex-hunter
	neo-	new	neo-colonialism, neo-classical
	omni-	all	omnipotent, omnivorous
	pro-	forward	proceed, progressive, promotion
	pro-	in favour of	pro-government
	pseudo-	false	pseudo-expert, pseudo-scientific
	re-	again	return, revisit, reappear, review
	vice-	deputy	vice-president

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Checklist

The following checklist summarises the information on this page. Use it to check your understanding.

Area	OK	Comments
I know what prefixes are.
I understand the prefixes generally change the meaning of the word, not the word form.
I know why there is sometimes more than one prefix with the same meaning (e.g. uni- and mono-).
I know some common prefixes.

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