Prefixes and Suffixes in English

                             Prefixes

Prefixes are the letter/s which sit before a stem to make new words. These letters are also called affixes.

  Affixes generally have no meaning by their own but can form meaningful words by sitting before/after the stems. In the case of prefixed words, affixes sit before the stems of the words.  

“A prefix is an affix which is placed before the stem of a word.” – Wilson (2011)

A prefix is “a letter or group of letters that is added at the beginning of a word to change its meaning.” – Merriam Webster.

Example:

• Prefix = ‘fix’ is a stem and ‘pre’ is a prefix which changes the meaning of the stem and creates a new word.
• Antibiotic
• Awake
• Symphony
• Hemisphere

List of Common Prefixes:

Prefix	Meaning	Examples
a	on in from up not without	aboard (onboard) asleep (in sleep) arise (rise from) awake (wake up) atheist (not a theist) apathy (without pathy)
ab	bad not	abuse (bad use) abnormal (not normal)
ad	to	adjoin (to join)
ante	before	antedate (before date)
anti	against opposite of	antiseptic (against septic) anticlimax (opposite of climax)
auto	self	autobiography (self-biography)
bi	two	bilateral (two sides)
co	with	co-exist (exist with)
de	down reversal	detrain (down train) demerit
di	two	dioxide (two oxides)
dia	through	diameter
dis	not opposite	disallowed (not allowed) dishonor (opposite of honor)
en	on in	enact (on action) encage (in the cage)
ex	out of former	extract (out of anything) ex-student
il	opposite of	illegal (opposite of legal)
im	the opposite of	impossible (opposite of possible)
in	the opposite of	inability (opposite of ability)
ir	the opposite of	irrational (opposite of rational)
inter	within	interschool (within the school)
fore	before	foretell (telling before)
hemi	half	hemisphere (half sphere)
homo	like/same	homogeneous (same species)
hyper	beyond/over	hypersensitive (oversensitive)
hypo	under	hypothesis (under thesis)
mal	bad ill	malpractice (bad practice) malnutrition (ill nutrition)
mis	bad	misconduct (bad conduct)
mono	single	monologue (single logue)
non	not/opposite	nonsense (opposite of sense)
post	after	postmodern (after modern)
pre	before	pretext (before text)
peri	round	perimeter (round meter)
re	again	regain (again gain)
semi	half	semifinal (half final)
sub	backup/alternate	subway (alternate way)
super	over/beyond	supernatural (beyond natural)
to	this	today (this day)
trans	across	transform (across form)
ultra	beyond	ultramodern (beyond modern)
un	not/opposite	unable (not able)
vice	alternative of	vice-captain (alternative of captain)

                                Suffixes 

Suffixes are the letter/s which are added at the end of a stem to make new words. The affixes used in the suffixed words are different from the affixes used in the prefixed words, and they make different kinds of words.

Most of the affixes that are used in the suffixed words have no meaning of their own.

“A suffix (also called ending) is an affix that is placed after the stem of a word.”
– Wikipedia

Example:

Reader = ‘read’ is the stem of the word which has different meaning and different grammatical function in a sentence but the affix ‘er’ changes both the meaning and the grammatical function of the word to make a new word.

• Reading
• Readable
• Creator
• Creation

Note: It is not necessary that a suffix change both meaning and grammatical property of the words. It can perform either of them.

List of Common Suffixes

A suffix can make a word/stem of a word a noun, verb, adverb, or adjective. A suffix can also make a transition in the degree of an adjective or in the tense of a verb.

Noun Suffixes
Suffix	Meaning	Example
-age	a condition	leakage, bondage, marriage
-al	an action	denial, removal, approval
-ar	one who performs the action	beggar, liar, scholar
-cy	state quality	urgency, emergency, fallacy accuracy, decency, lunacy
-dom	place state of being	kingdom, dukedom, earldom boredom, freedom, stardom
-ee	one who performs an action	interviewee, internee, employee, nominee
-er	one who performs the action	reader, driver, maker, painter
-hood	state of being	boyhood, childhood, manhood
-ion	condition	union, opinion
-ism	doctrine or belief	marxism, Sufism, egotism
-ist	one who is something	dentist, chemist, Marxist, atheist
-ice	the result of an action	service, cowardice
-logy	theory	biology, geology, ecology
-ment	the condition of an action	acknowledgement, punishment, agreement
-on/en/an	doer	artisan, citizen, surgeon
-ness	state of being	sadness, happiness, rudeness, business
-nce	state quality	abundance, absence, presence brilliance, endurance, obidience
-or	one who performs the action	creator, supervisor, sailor
-ship	position held	internship, partnership, kinship
-sion	state of being	illusion, inclusion, extension
-tion	state of being	creation, information, confirmation
-tude	result of an action	fortitude, magnitude, servitude
-ty	quality state	flexibility, sensibility, frailtyserenity, safety, reality
Verb Suffixes
-ate	do	captivate, annihilate, exterminate
-en	do	broaden, awaken, strengthen
-er	do	chatter, glitter, glimmer
-ish	do	publish, nourish, punish, banish
-fy	make	rectify, simplify, amplify
-ize	become	humanize, organize, socialize, legalize
Adjective Suffixes
-able	capable of being	presentable, readable, believable
-al	belonging to	legal, local, mental, mortal, fatal, musical
-ar	quality	familiar, regular, circular
-ed	quality	gifted, talented, learned, cultured
-en	made of	golden, wooden, woolen, leaden
-ful	notable for	beautiful, wonderful, doubtful
-ible	capable of	admissible, divisible, sensible
-ic	pertaining to	allergic, mythic, domestic, historic
-ish	belonging to	selfish, Turkish, Irish, Polish, childish
-istic	characterized by an attribute	fantastic, pessimistic, optimistic, sarcastic
-ile	having the nature of	fragile, juvenile, servile
-ian/an	belonging to	Indian, American, Russian, Victorian
-ive	having the nature of	creative, punitive, divisive, decisive
-less	without	fearless, helpless, endless, tireless
-ous	characterized by an attribute	studious, pious, religious, joyous
-y	characterized by	smelly, healthy, greedy, wealthy

              Compiled By- Prof. D. S. Rathod (Mod).