English prefixes are affix

Affix

An affix is a morpheme that is attached to a word stem to form a new word. Affixes may be derivational, like English -ness and pre-, or inflectional, like English plural -s and past tense -ed. They are bound morphemes by definition; prefixes and suffixes may be separable affixes...

es (i.e., bound morpheme

Morpheme

In linguistics, a morpheme is the smallest semantically meaningful unit in a language. The field of study dedicated to morphemes is called morphology. A morpheme is not identical to a word, and the principal difference between the two is that a morpheme may or may not stand alone, whereas a word,...

s that provide lexical meaning) that are added before either simple root

Root (linguistics)

The root word is the primary lexical unit of a word, and of a word family , which carries the most significant aspects of semantic content and cannot be reduced into smaller constituents....

s or complex bases (or operands) consisting of (a) a root and other affixes, (b) multiple roots, or (c) multiple roots and other affixes. Examples of these follow:

• undo (consisting of prefix un- and root do)
• untouchable (consisting of prefix un-, root touch, and suffix -able)
• non-childproof (consisting of prefix non-, root child, and root proof)
• non-childproofable (consisting of prefix non-, root child, root proof, and suffix -able)

English words may consist of multiple prefixes: anti-pseudo-classicism (containing both an anti- prefix and a pseudo- prefix).

In English, all prefixes are derivational

Derivation (linguistics)

In linguistics, derivation is the process of forming a new word on the basis of an existing word, e.g. happi-ness and un-happy from happy, or determination from determine...

. This contrasts with English suffixes, which may be either derivational or inflectional.

Selectional restrictions

As is often the case with derivational morphology, many English prefixes can only be added to bases of particular lexical categories (or "parts of speech"). For example, the prefix re- meaning "again, back" is only added to verb bases as in rebuild, reclaim, reuse, resell, re-evaluate, resettle. It cannot be added to bases of other lexical categories. Thus, examples of re- plus a noun base (such as the ungrammatical *rehusband, *remonopoly) or re- plus an adjective base (*renatural, *rewise) are virtually unattested.

These selectional restrictions on what base a prefix can be attached to can be used to distinguish between otherwise identical-sounding prefixes. For instance, there are two different un- prefixes in English: one meaning "not, opposite of", the other meaning "reverse action, deprive of, release from". The first prefix un- "not" is attached to adjective and participle bases while the second prefix un- "reverse action" is attached to either verb or noun bases. Thus, English can have two words that are pronounced and spelled the same and have the same lexical category but have different meanings, different prefixes, a different internal morphological structure, and different internal bases that the prefixes are attached to:

• unlockable "not able to be locked"
• unlockable "able to be unlocked"

In the first unlockable "not able to be locked", the prefix un- "not" is attached to an adjective base lockable (which, in turn, is composed of lock + -able). This word has the following internal structure:

[ un [ [ lock ]_verb able ]_adj ]_adj

In the second unlockable "able to be unlocked", the prefix un- "reverse action" is attached to a verb base lock, resulting in the derived verb unlock. Subsequently, the -able suffix is added after the newly created unlock adjective base deriving the adjective unlockable. This word has the following internal structure:

[ [ un [ lock ]_verb ]_verb able ]_adj

Only certain verbs or nouns can be used to form a new verb having the opposite meaning. In particular, using verbs describing an irreversible action produces words often considered nonsense, e.g. unkill, unspend, unlose, unring. These words may nevertheless be in occasional use for humorous or other effect.

Changes in lexical category

Unlike derivational suffixes, English (derivational) prefixes typically do not change the lexical category of the base (and are called class-maintaining prefixes). Thus, the word do consisting of a single morpheme is a verb as is the word redo, which consists of the prefix re- and the base root do.

However, there are a few prefixes in English that are class-changing in that the word resulting after prefixation belongs to a lexical category that is different from the lexical category of the base. Examples of this type include a-, be-, and en-. a- typically creates adjectives from noun and verb bases: blaze (noun/verb) > ablaze (adj). The relatively unproductive

Productivity (linguistics)

In linguistics, productivity is the degree to which native speakers use a particular grammatical process, especially in word formation. Since use to produce novel structures is the clearest proof of usage of a grammatical process, the evidence most often appealed to as establishing productivity is...

 be- creates transitive verbs from noun bases: witch (noun) > bewitch (verb). en- creates transitive verbs from noun bases: slave (noun) > enslave (verb)

Native vs. non-native (neo-classical) prefixing

Several English words are easily analyzed as a combination of a dependent affix and an independent base, such as in the words boy-hood or un-just. Following Marchand (1969), these types of words are referred to as words formed by native word-formation processes.

Other words in English (and also in French and German) are formed by foreign word-formation processes, particularly Greek and Latin word-formation processes. These word types are often known as neo-classical (or neo-Latin) words and are often found in academic learned vocabulary domains (such as in science fields). Words of this nature are borrowed from either Greek or Latin or have been newly coined based upon Greek and Latin word-formation processes. It is possible to detect varying degrees of foreignness.

Neo-classical prefixes are often excluded from analyses of English derivation on the grounds that they are not analyzable according to an English basis. Thus, anglicized neo-classical English words such as deceive are not analyzed as being composed of a prefix de- and a bound base -ceive but are rather analyzed as being composed of a single morpheme (although the Latin sources of these English words are, of course, analyzed as such as Latin words in the Latin language). However, not all foreign words are unanalyzable according to an English basis: some foreign elements have become a part of productive English word-formation processes. An example of such a now native English prefix is co- as in co-worker, which is ultimately derived from the Latin prefix com- (with its allomorph

Allomorph

In linguistics, an allomorph is a variant form of a morpheme. The concept occurs when a unit of meaning can vary in sound without changing meaning. The term allomorph explains the comprehension of phonological variations for specific morphemes....

s co-, con-, col-, and cor-).

Native

Prefix	Meaning	Example
a-	verb > predicative adjective with progressive aspect	afloat, atremble
anti-	against	anti-war, antivirus, anti-human
arch-	supreme, highest, worst	arch-rival, archangel
space related	astrology
be-	equipped with, covered with, beset with (pejorative or facetious)	bedeviled, becalm, bedazzle, bewitch
co-	joint, with, accompanying	co-worker, coordinator, cooperation
counter-	against, in opposition to	counteract, counterpart
de-	reverse action, get rid of	de-emphasise
dis-	not, opposite of	disloyal, disagree
dis-	reverse action, get rid of	disconnect, disinformation
en-/em-	to make into, to put into, to get into	enmesh, empower
ex-	former	ex-husband, ex-boss, ex-colleague, exit
fore-	before	forearm, forerunner
in-/il-/im-/ir-	not, opposite of	inexact, irregular
inter-	between, among	interstate, interact
mal-	bad(ly)	malnourish
mid-	middle	midlife
mini-	small	minimarket, mini-room
mis-	wrong, astray	misinformation, misguide
out-	better, faster, longer, beyond	outreach, outcome
over-	too much	overreact, overact
post-	after	post-election, post-graduation
pre-	before	pre-election, pre-enter
pro-	for, on the side of	pro-life
re-	again, back	rerun
self-	self	self-sufficient
step-	family relation by remarriage	stepbrother
trans-	across, from one place to another	transatlantic
twi-	two	twibill, twilight
un-	not, opposite of	unnecessary, unequal
un-	reverse action, deprive of, release from	undo, untie
under-	below, beneath, lower in grade/dignity, lesser, insufficient	underachieve, underground, underpass
up-	greater, higher, or better	upgrade, uplift
with-	against	withstand

Neo-classical

Prefix	Meaning	Examples
Afro-	relating to Africa	Afro-American
ambi-	both	ambidextrous, ambitendency
amphi-	two, both, on both sides	amphiaster, amphitheater, amphibian
an-/a-	not, without	anemic, asymmetric
ana-/an-	up, against	anacardiaceous, anode
Anglo-	relating to England	Anglo-Norman
ante-	before	antenatal
anti-	opposite, against	antivenom
apo-	away, different from	apomorphine
astro-	star	astrobiology
auto-	self	autobiography Autobiography An autobiography is a book about the life of a person, written by that person.-Origin of the term:... , automatic
bi-	two	bicycle
bio-	biological	biodegrade
circum-	around	circumnavigate
cis-	on this side of	cislunar
con-/com-/col-/cor-/co-	together or with	confederation, commingle, colleague, correlation, cohabit
contra-	opposite	contradict
cryo-	ice	cryogenics
crypto-	hidden, secret	cryptography
de-	down	depress
demi-	half	demigod
demo-	people	demography
di-	two	dioxide
dis-/di-/dif-	apart	differ, dissect
down-	to make something lesser, lower or worse	downgrade
du-/duo-	two	duet
eco-	ecological	ecosystem
electro-	electric, electricity	electro-analysis
epi-	upon, at, close upon, in addition	epidermis
Euro-	European	Eurocentric
ex-	out of	export
extra-	outside	extracurricular
fin-	kinship	affinity
Franco-	French, France	Francophile
geo-	relating to the earth or its surface	geography
gyro-	spinning on an axis	gyrosphere, gyrocopter
hetero-	different	heterosexual
hemi-	half	hemimorphic
homo-	same	homogenous, homologous
hydro-	relating to water, or using water	hydroelectricity
hyper-	above, over	hyperthermia Hyperthermia Hyperthermia is an elevated body temperature due to failed thermoregulation. Hyperthermia occurs when the body produces or absorbs more heat than it can dissipate...
hypo-	under or below something, low	hypothermia Hypothermia Hypothermia is a condition in which core temperature drops below the required temperature for normal metabolism and body functions which is defined as . Body temperature is usually maintained near a constant level of through biologic homeostasis or thermoregulation...
ideo-	image, idea	ideograph
idio-	individual, personal, unique	idiolect
in-	in, into	insert
Indo-	relating to the Indian subcontinent	Indo-European
infra-	below, beneath	infrared
inter-	among, between	intercede
intra-	inside, within	intravenous
iso-	equal	isochromatic
macr(o)-	long	macrobiotic
maxi-	very long, very large	maxi-skirt
mega-/megalo-	great, large	megastar, megalopolis
meta-	after, along with, beyond, among, behind	meta-theory
micro-	small	microbacillus
midi-	medium-sized	midi-length
mon(o)-	sole, only	monogamy
multi-	many	multi-storey
neo-	new	neolithic
non-	not	nonexistent
omni-	all	omnipotent, omnipresent
ortho-	correcting or straightening	orthodontics, orthotropic
paleo-	old	paleolithic
pan-	all, worldwide	pan-African, pandemic
para-	beside, beyond	parallel
ped-/pod-	foot	pedestrian, podiatrist
per-	through, completely, wrongly, exceedingly	permeate, permute
peri-	around	periphrase
photo-	light, photography, photograph	photoelectric
poly-	many	polygon
post-	after	postpone
pre-	before	predict
preter-	beyond, past, more than	preternatural
pro-	substitute, deputy	proconsul
pro-	before	procambium
pros-	toward	prosthesis Prosthesis In medicine, a prosthesis, prosthetic, or prosthetic limb is an artificial device extension that replaces a missing body part. It is part of the field of biomechatronics, the science of using mechanical devices with human muscle, skeleton, and nervous systems to assist or enhance motor control...
proto-	first, original	protoplasm Protoplasm Protoplasm is the living contents of a cell that is surrounded by a plasma membrane. It is a general term of the Cytoplasm . Protoplasm is composed of a mixture of small molecules such as ions, amino acids, monosaccharides and water, and macromolecules such as nucleic acids, proteins, lipids and... , prototype
pseudo-	false, imitation	pseudonym Pseudonym A pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...
pyro-	fire	pyrokinetic
quasi-	partly, almost, appearing to be but not really	quasi-religious
retro-	backwards	retrograde
semi-	half	semicircle Semicircle In mathematics , a semicircle is a two-dimensional geometric shape that forms half of a circle. Being half of a circle's 360°, the arc of a semicircle always measures 180° or a half turn...
socio-	society, social, sociological	sociopath
sub-, sup-	below, under	support
super-	above, over	supervisor
supra-	above, over	suprarenal
sur-	above, over	surreal, surrender
syn-/sy-/syl-/sym-	together, with	synthesis, symbol, syllable, system
tele-	at a distance	telegraph, television
trans-	across	transverse
tri-	three	tricycle
ultra-	beyond	ultraviolet, ultramagnetic
uni-	one	unicycle Unicycle A unicycle is a human-powered, single-track vehicle with one wheel. Unicycles resemble bicycles, but are less complex.-History:One theory of the advent of the unicycle stems from the popularity of the penny-farthing during the late 19th century...
vice-	deputy	vice-president, vice-principal

Archaic

Prefix	Meaning	Example
y-	inflectional prefix	yclad, yclept (both archaic words)