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About | New| Feedback | Help | Home | Sitemaps
Reference Corner: helpful guide to help you learn more about language and words
DIRECTORY OF THE LOGOPHILE LIBRARY
words are categorized by chapters in individual lists or features. Features are by topic & present extensive vocabulary, research, articles & narratives.
Home Page ~ Word List Index ~ Featured Words
Literary, Language, Writing and Words
Obscure, Rare, Unusual and Obsolete
Creative, Deep, Intellectual and Profound
Dark, Melancholic, Mystical and Risqué
The Universe and World We Live In
The Exotic Languages of the World
MORE WORDS TO DISCOVER
This Site is Part of a Series of Beautiful Words
Books - Blogs - Guides - Manuals
DOWNLOAD VOCABULARY BOOKS
or view and download all my books
SEARCH THIS SITE
Search site below or use Advanced Search to search the site & content in my vocabulary books.
TOUCH OF THE INTELLECT
Intellect Home & Index
SMART - PROFOUND - SPEECH AFFIX ~ CREATIVE - TECHNICAL
HOT AND SIZZLING SMART SUFFIXES!
To Prefix or To Suffix That is the Question
Whipping up a Greek and Latin Prefix
The Name of the Game is -ONYM
Penning an l Ode to an -OLOGY
Smoking Hot Pan of -OSOPHY
Right to Bear Arms -FEROUS/-GEROUS
A TABLE SET FOR -ISM BELIEFS
a monstrosity of a list of -ISM words
Knowledge ~ Spirituality ~ Political ~ Science
Moral ~ Humanity ~ Creative Arts ~ Psychology
Causality & Reality ~ Other Beliefs
SEE ALSO: -PHILE | -PHOBIA | -MANIA
To Prefix or To Suffix That is the Question
Whipping up a Greek and Latin Prefix
The Name of the Game is -ONYM
Penning an l Ode to an -OLOGY
Smoking Hot Pan of -OSOPHY
Right to Bear Arms -FEROUS/-GEROUS
A TABLE SET FOR -ISM BELIEFS
a monstrosity of a list of -ISM words
Knowledge ~ Spirituality ~ Political ~ Science
Moral ~ Humanity ~ Creative Arts ~ Psychology
Causality & Reality ~ Other Beliefs
SEE ALSO: -PHILE | -PHOBIA | -MANIA
PREFIX OR SUFFIX
That is the Question
AFFIXATION is the linguistic process that speakers use to form different words by adding morphemes at the beginning (prefixation), the middle (infixation) or the end (suffixation) of words.
WHAT COMES BEFORE
THE PREFIX
A prefix is an affix which is placed before the stem of a word. Adding it to the beginning of one word changes it into another word.
- For example, when the prefix un- is added to the word happy, it creates the word unhappy.
In the study of languages, a prefix is also called a preformative, because it alters the form of the words to which it is affixed. Prefixes, like other affixes, can be either inflectional or derivational:
INFLECTIONAL: creating a new form of the word with the same basic meaning and same lexical category (but playing a different role in the sentence. In English, there are no inflectional prefixes; English uses suffixes instead for that purpose.
DERIVATIONAL: creating a new word with a new semantic meaning and sometimes also a different lexical category.
The word prefix is itself made up of the stem fix meaning "attach" and the prefix pre- meaning "before"). Both of which are derived from Latin roots.
LLIST OF PREFIXES
- a-or an-: at, in or in the process of, on; not, without
- acro- or acr-: beginning, end, height, peak, summit, tip
- ad- or (first sense only)
- ac-, af-, ag-, al-, ap-, as-, or at-: to, toward; adjacent to, near
- aero-: air, atmosphere, aviation, gas
- after-: following, lower, rear, resulting
- ambi-: both
- ante-: before, forward, prior or prior to
- anti- or ant- or anth-: against, alleviating, curing, opposed, opposite, preventing
- arch- or (second sense only) arche- or archi-: chief, extreme, principal; original, primary, primitive
- auto- or aut-: automatic, same one, self or self-acting
- bi- or (second sense only) bio-: between, double, two, twice; biographical, life
- chrono- or chron-: time
- circum-: about, around
- co-: alternate, deputy, fellow, in or to the same degree, joint, partner, together, with
- com-, col-, or con-: jointly, together, with
- contra-: against, contrary, contrasting
- counter-: against, complementary, contrary, corresponding, duplicate, opposing, retaliatory, substitute
- crypto- or crypt-: coded, covered, hidden
- cyber-: pertaining to computers or computer networks
- de-: derived from something, do the opposite, get off of, reduce, remove from, reverse of, something derived from
- di- or (first sense only) dia-: containing two, double, twice, twofold: daytime
- dis-: absence or opposite of, completely, deprive of, do the opposite of, exclude or expel from, not
- dys-: abnormal, bad, difficult, impaired
- en- or em-: cause to be, cover, go in or into, provide with, put into or onto, so as to cover, thoroughly
- epi-: after, attached to, besides, outer, over, upon
- extra-: beyond, outside
- extro-: outward
- fore-: at or in front, before, earlier
- geo-: earth, ground, soil
- hetero- or heter-: different, other
- homo- or hom-: alike, homosexual, one and the same, similar
- hyper-: above, beyond, excessive
- hypo- or hyp-: beneath, down, less than usual, under
- in-, il-, im-, or ir-: not; before, in or into, on, toward, within
- infra-: below, within
- inter-: among, between, between the limits of, carried on between, derived from two or more, existing between, in the midst of, involving, located between, occurring between, reciprocal or reciprocally, shared by, within
- intra-: between layers of, during, within
- intro-: in, into, inward, within
- macro-: large, long
- mal-: abnormal or abnormally, bad or badly, inadequate or inadequately
- mega- or megal- or megalo-: great, large, million, surpassing
- meta-: after, behind, beyond, change, later, transcending, transformation
- micro- or micr-: abnormally small, millionth, minute, pertaining to a minute qualities or a small area, small
- mid-: in the middle or the midst
- mini-: briefer, smaller
- mis- or (second sense only) miso-: bad or badly, opposite of, not, suspiciously, unfavorably, wrong or wrongly; hatred
- mono- or mon-: alone, one, single
- multi-: many, many times over, more than one or two, multiple, much
- neo- or ne-: new, recent
- noct-, nocti-, or nocto-: night or during the night
- non-: absence of, lacking, not, other than, reverse of, unimportant, worthless
- omni-: all, universally
- over-: excessive, surpassing
- para- or par-: abnormal, accessory, almost, alongside of, aside from, beside, beyond, faulty, related, resembling, subsidiary; parachute
- ped-, (first sense only) pedi-, or pedo-: base, foot; child or childhood
- philo- or phil-: attracted to, enjoying, loving, requiring
- phono- or phon-: sound, speech, voice
- photo- or phot-: light, radiant energy
- poly-: excessive, increased, many, much, multiple, several
- post-: after, behind, following, later, posterior, subsequent
- pre-: anterior to, before, beforehand, earlier than, in advance, in front of, preparatory to, prerequisite to, prior to
- pro-: anterior, before, earlier than, in front of, precursory, prior to, projecting, rudimentary; championing, favoring, substituting for, supporting
- proto-: beginning, first, giving rise to, primary
- pseudo- or pseud-: false, spurious, substitute, temporary, related, resembling
- re-: again, anew, back, backward
- semi-: half in quantity or time, or halfway through, incomplete or incompletely, partly, similar to
- sub-: almost, below, beneath, nearly, secondary, somewhat, subordinate, under,
- super-, supero-, or supra-: above, exceeding, extra, higher, more than, on, over and above, superior, surpassing, transcending
- sym- or syn-: at the same time, the same, together, united, with or along with
- thermo- or therm-: heat, thermoelectric
- tele- or (second sense only) tel- or telo-: distant; completion, end
- trans-: across, beyond, changed, through, transferred
- tri-, tripl-, tripla-, tripli-, or triplo-: into thirds, every third, three, thrice
- ultra-: beyond, transcending
- un-: contrary to, not, opposite of; deprive of, release, remove, reverse
- under-: below, beneath, facing downward, lower, short of, subjected, subordinate
- uni-: one, single
WHAT COMES AFTER
THE SUFFIX
A suffix is an addition of one or more letters to the end of a word in order to change its grammatical function.
Suffixes can carry grammatical information (inflectional suffixes) or lexical information (derivational/lexical suffixes). An inflectional suffix is sometimes called a desinence or a grammatical suffix. Inflection changes the grammatical properties of a word within its syntactic category.
The inflectional suffix changes a word’s grammatical properties, as when an s is added to a noun to make it plural or change it to a verb when converting it to one applicable to the third person.
- Example: in the change to walk between “Take a walk” and “Take walks”)
- Example: the change between “I walk” to “He walks”) or to indicate past tense (for example, the change between “I walk” to “I walked”).
However, suffix usually refers to a derivational, or lexical suffix, which is attached to a word to change its function, either to another part of speech or to the same part of speech but with a distinct meaning. This post lists many common derivational suffixes, which are categorized according to which part of speech the suffix indicates.
NOUN SUFFIXES
- -acy: quality or state
- -al: action or process of
- -ance or -ence: action or process, quality or state, amount or degree (-ance only)
- -ant: agent or performer, or a thing that prompts an action or process, or one connected with or thing acted upon
- -dom: office or those having an office, place or state
- -er or -or: one that is, or does or performs; one associated with or belonging to; one that has, produces, or yields; one that lives in or is from (-er only); activity or condition (-or only)
- -ess: female
- -hood: character, condition, quality, or state, or individuals sharing a condition or state; instance or period
- -ics: knowledge, study, practice, or skill; discrimination or prejudice; condition, property, or state; characteristic actions or activities, or characteristic operations, phenomena, or qualities
- -ism: act, practice, or process; manner of action or behavior; belief, doctrine, religion, theory, or adherence to one; characteristic or peculiar feature or trait
- -ist: one that performs a specific action, specializes in a job or skill, or adheres to and/or advocates a code or doctrine
- -ite: adherent or follower, descendant, or native or resident, product; part or segment; fossil, mineral, or rock
- -ity or -ty: degree, quality, state
- -kind: category
- -like: characteristic of or resembling
- -lore: something learned, traditional belief or knowledge, body of knowledge, or tradition
- -ment: agent, object, or result; means or instrument; action or place of an action, or process; state or condition
- -ness: condition, degree, quality, or state
- -oid: something resembling
- -ology or -logy: branch of learning or study of a subject, or a narrative, thing said, or way of speaking
- -ship: condition, quality, or state; dignity, office, or profession; art or skill; one entitled to a designation or embodying or exhibiting a quality or state; body of people engaging in an activity
- -sion or -tion: quality
VERB SUFFIXES
- -ate: become
- -en: become
- -ify or -fy: become or make
- -ize or -ise: become
ADJECTIVE SUFFIXES
- -able or -ible: capable of being
- -al: characterized by, of, relating to
- -ant: being, performing or prompting
- -er: more than
- -esque: in a manner of, resembling
- -ful: notable for
- -ic or -ical: having the character or form of
- -ious or -ous: characterized by
- -ish: having the quality of
- -ist: characteristic of, of, relating to
- -ive: having the nature of
- -less: without
- -oid: resembling
- -y: characterized by
ADVERB SUFFIXES
- -er: more than
- -est: most
- -ily or -ly: quality, related to
- -ward or -wards: direction
- -wise: in relation to
RELATED RESOURCES AND WORD LISTS
Rules of Grammar Keep You Safe from Trolls
The Tale of the Grammatical Faux Pas Calculating the Sum of All Parts of Speech
Punctuating the Point - the Rules of Punctuation
Punctuating with Obscurity
VIEW THE COMPOSITION OF GRAMMAR
VIEW THE RULES OF GRAMMAR
VISIT THE REFERENCE CORNER
Library of articles defining words & meaning
LOGOPHILE | WORDS | WRITER | GRAMMAR
Language WordMap
Rules of Grammar Keep You Safe from Trolls
The Tale of the Grammatical Faux Pas Calculating the Sum of All Parts of Speech
Punctuating the Point - the Rules of Punctuation
Punctuating with Obscurity
VIEW THE COMPOSITION OF GRAMMAR
VIEW THE RULES OF GRAMMAR
VISIT THE REFERENCE CORNER
Library of articles defining words & meaning
LOGOPHILE | WORDS | WRITER | GRAMMAR
Language WordMap