A List Of Common Prefixes And Suffixes

Author: Michael

Date: Feb 27, 2018 | Grammar

prefixsuffix Prefixes and suffixes are a group of letters that are added in a word to change its meaning. Commonly, they are used in words to make derivatives. When they are fixed in a word, they not only change the spelling of the word but also change its meaning and the grammatical value. Prefixes and suffixes can be useful for new English learners as they can help them build their vocabulary in quick time. Compiled by the best assignment writing service, here we go with some of the common prefixes and suffixes that you can learn and practice in your daily English usage.

Prefixes

Prefixes are set of letters that are typically used to negate, counter, or intensify the meaning of a word. The majority of prefixes are used before a noun or adjective, while some are used before a verb. Here are some of the ways you can use prefixes in a word. To Counter The Meaning Of A Word Prefixes like im-, anti-, de-, dis-, un-, and non- are used to mean opposite of a word. Examples include:
  • Moral changes into immoral
  • War changes into antiwar
  • Centralize changes into decentralize
  • Agree changes into disagree
  • Official changes into unofficial
  • Political changes into non-Political
  • Armed changes into unarmed
To Increase Or Decrease The Strength Of A Word Over-, Under-, Up-, Down-, and hyper- are some of the prefixes that are used before a word to denote the degree, quality, quantity, or a trend. Examples are:
  • Rate changes into overrate
  • Perform changes into underperform
  • Scale changes into upscale
  • Fall changes into downfall
Sensitive changes into hypersensitive To Quantify Something Letters like mono-, bi-, uni-, di-, and omni- are some of the prefixes that indicate the quantity of something in a word.
  • Lingual changes into monolingual
  • Monthly changes into bi-monthly
  • Sex changes into unisex
  • Pole changes into dipole
  • Present changes into omnipresent
To Denote The Degree Of Something Mega-, mini-, macro, and micro are some of the prefixes that express the degree of something in a word. Here are the common examples:
  • City changes into megacity
  • Skirt changes into miniskirt
  • Economics changes into macroeconomics
  • Organism changes into microorganism

Suffixes

Suffixes are set of letters that added in the end of a world to make noun, verb, adjective and adverb. Here are some of the ways you can add suffixes to form derivatives: Noun Suffixes They are the set of suffixes that are added in the end of a verb to convert it into noun. –or, -er, - al, –ist, -iance/ence, and –ment are some of the common examples of suffixes that make a noun derivative from a verb. Here are some of the examples:
  • Compute changes into computer
  • Curate changes into curator
  • Arrive changes into arrival
  • Rely changes into reliance
  • Employ changes into employment
Verb Suffixes Verb suffixes are inserted in the end of a word to convert it into verbs. They are often made by adding letters in a noun or adjective. The most common verb suffixes are –en, -ify, ize, and –ate. Examples include:
  • Black changes into blacken
  • Note changes into notify
  • Formal changes into formalize
  • Incapacity changes into incapacitate
Adjective Suffixes Adjective suffixes are the set of letters that change a base word into adjective. The majority of these adjectives are formed by adding a suffix in a noun that include –able/ -ible, -al, -cal, -ive, -less, and -ish to name a few. Here are the examples:
  • Desire changes into desirable
  • Convert changes into convertible
  • Britain changes into British
  • Technology changes into technological
  • Meaning changes into meaningless
  • Repetition changes into Repetitive
Adverb Suffixes Adverb suffixes are often comprised of the letters that change an adjective into adverbs. They are formed by adding -ly into an adjective. The most common suffixes are -ly, -ily, -ally, -wise, and -wards. Here are the examples:
  • Swift changes into swiftly
  • Easy changes into easily
  • Organic changes into organically
  • Up changes into upwards
  • Length changes into lengthwise
The aforementioned are some of the most common examples of prefixes and suffixes. If you know more of them, let us know in the comment’s section.