Prefix

A prefix is a tiny part added to the beginning of a word. It changes what the word means or how we use it. For example, adding the prefix un- to happy makes unhappy, which means the opposite of happy.

Prefixes help us understand and make new words. They can change a word's meaning or turn a noun into a verb. In English, prefixes often show that something is not true, like in- in incorrect or dis- in disagree.

The idea of prefixes comes from studying many languages. In some languages, prefixes show things like time or gender, but English mostly uses them to create new words. The word prefix comes from Latin. It has the prefix pre- meaning “before” and the stem fix, meaning “attach.” This tells us a prefix is something added before a word to change it.

English language

List of English derivational prefixes

Main article: English prefix

This is a list of word beginnings in English that change the meaning of words. Some word parts that mix old and new styles are included because they work like regular word beginnings such as over- and self-.

Only the most common number prefixes are listed here. A bigger table with all of them can be found at Numeral prefix > Table of number prefixes in English.

Hyphenation

Deciding whether to use a hyphen or write prefixes together is explained at Hyphen > Prefixes and suffixes.

Japanese language

In Japanese, some common prefixes are お〜 (o- ) and ご〜 (go- ). These prefixes are used when people want to talk politely. They show respect for the person or thing being talked about and can also be used in a nice way to avoid saying something directly.

Bantu languages

In the Bantu languages of Africa, prefixes help show the noun class. These prefixes change to match the words they are used with.

Example from Luganda

ò-mú-límí

AG-CL1-farmer

ò-mú-néné

AG-CL1-fat

ò-mú-kâddé

AG-CL1-old

ò-mú

AG.one

à-∅-gênda

he-PRES-go

ò-mú-límí ò-mú-néné ò-mú-kâddé ò-mú à-∅-gênda

AG-CL1-farmer AG-CL1-fat AG-CL1-old AG.one he-PRES-go

The one, old, fat farmer goes.

Navajo

In the Navajo language, verbs are made from a word stem and added parts called affixes. Each verb needs one of four special non-syllabic prefixes (∅, ł, d, l) to help form it right. These prefixes change the basic word to make new meanings.

Sunwar

In the Sunwar language of Eastern Nepal, the prefix ma- म makes negative verbs. It is the only verbal prefix in the language.

For example, ma.rimʃo means "bad" with the word for "child":

ma.rimʃo al

NEG.nice child

This means "Bad child!" and can be used for scolding.

Russian

In Russian, prefixes are not used as much as suffixes when making new nouns. But they can still change the meaning of a word.

German

In German, prefixes are added to words to change their meaning. There are two main types: those used with nouns and adjectives, and those used with verbs.

For nouns and adjectives, two common prefixes are un- which means "not" (like in ungesund, from gesund), and ur- which means "original" or adds emphasis.

Verbs often use prefixes like be-, ent-, er-, ge-, miss-, ver-, and zer- . be- makes an action stronger, ent- means "not", and ge- shows that an action is finished. ver- adds emphasis or turns a noun or adjective into a verb. The prefix er- usually shows that an action is completed successfully. It can also be used to make verbs from adjectives, like erkalten, which means "to get cold".