Prefix and Suffix Types
We use a prefix at the beginning of the word to change the meaning and a suffix at the end of a word when we often use them to change the type of word. Understanding when to use prefixes and suffixes correctly are an important part of doing the word formation exercise , which is Part 3 in the Use of English exam.
We have already seen many of the negative prefixes and how we use them in English. Here we look at a much larger group of prefixes in English.
Prefixes
We can think about prefixes in these groups according to their specific meaning.
For example
- They refused to co-operate.
Co- means together so they would not work together. - I misunderstood what the teacher said.
Mis means incorrectly so I didn’t understand correctly.
Other English Prefixes
As we said above there is a large group of other English prefixes. The examples below are the most common and it is important to learn and to recognise them.
- co-
- inter-
- anti-
- mis-
- re-
- multi-
- micro-
- extra-
- over-
- under-
- ex-
- semi-
- pre-
- post-
- counter-
together
between
against/opposite
incorrectly
again
many
very small
more
too much
too little, below
former, previous
partly
before
after
against/opposite
You can also learn more about negative prefixes and suffixes we use for nouns and people.
Other Prefixes Practice
Complete the sentence with the correct form of the word at the end of the sentence.