Prefix and suffix

Prefixes and suffixes are little groups of words that are added to a root word to give those words new meanings. A prefix is placed in front of a word, while a suffix is placed at the back.

The tables below show what prefixes mean and how they’re used in a word. Take note that there are many suffixes and prefixes, and the list that you see below provides just a few common ones:

Prefixes	Meaning	Examples
anti-	against	anti-ageing, anti-social
de-	down, away	degrade, derail
dis-	apart, not	disconnect, dislike
ex-	former	ex-teacher, ex-girlfriend
pre-	before	pre-war, pre-order
post-	after	post-war, post-dated
re-	again	reclaim, remake
un-	not	unnatural, unwanted
semi-	half	semi-finals, semi-detached

Suffixes	Meaning	Examples
-able	possible, capable	separable, reliable
-al	related to	political, economical
-less	without	wireless, heartless
-ful	quality	helpful, wonderful

Take note:
Some words are tricky; they appear to have prefixes or suffixes, but they’re actually whole words!

Examples:

• return ( = give back)
• demise ( = die)
• hardly ( = very seldom)
• display ( = show)

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