Prefix
| Affixes |
|---|
| See also: |
A prefix is an affix which is placed before the stem of a word.[1] 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. Particularly 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, changing the syntactic category, or derivational, changing either the lexical category or the semantic meaning.[2] In English, there are no inflectional prefixes; English uses suffixes instead for that purpose. Prefixes, like all other affixes, are usually bound morphemes.[1] The word prefix is itself made up of the stem fix (meaning "attach", in this case), and the prefix pre- (meaning "before"), both of which are derived from Latin roots.
In English
List of English derivational prefixes
In English, a fairly comprehensive list, although not exhaustive, is the following. Depending on precisely how one defines a derivational prefix, some of the neoclassical combining forms may or may not qualify for inclusion in such a list. This list takes the broad view that acro- and auto- count as English derivational prefixes because they function the same way that prefixes such as over- and self- do.
As for numeral prefixes, only the most common members of that class are included here. There is a large separate table covering them all at Numeral prefix > Table of number prefixes in English.
| Prefix | Meaning | Example | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|
| a- | "not" | asymmetric, "not symmetric" | a- before consonants, an- before vowels |
| acro- | "high" | acrophobia, "fear of heights" (more) | |
| allo- | "other" | allotransplantation, "transplant of tissue from another person" (more) | |
| an- | "not/without" | anaerobic, "not requiring air to live" | a- before consonants, an- before vowels |
| ante- | "before" | antebellum, "before a war" | |
| anti- | "against" | anti-inflammatory, "against inflammation" (more) | |
| auto- | "self" | automobile, "moves itself" (more) | |
| bi- | "two" | bicentennial, "consisting of or occurring every two centuries" | See number prefixes in English |
| co- | "together" | cooperation, "working together" | |
| contra- | "against" | contraindication, "against indication" (more) | |
| counter- | "against" | countermeasure, "action against" (more) | |
| de- | "negative, remove" | deactivate, "stop from working" | |
| di- | "two" | diatomic, "two atoms" | See number prefixes in English |
| dis- | "negative, remove" | disappear, "vanish" (more) | |
| down- | "down"; "reduce" | downshift, "shift to a lower gear" downregulation, "regulation toward lessened expression" (more) |
|
| dys- | "negative, badly, wrongly" | dysfunction, "bad function" (more) | |
| epi- | "on, above" | epidural, "outside the dura mater" (more) | |
| extra- | "outside" | extracellular, "outside a cell" (more) | |
| hemi- | "half" | hemisphere, "half of a sphere" (more) | See number prefixes in English |
| hexa- | "six" | hexagon, "six-sided polygon" (more) | See number prefixes in English |
| hyper- | "a lot"; "too much" | hypercalcemia, "too much calcium in the blood" (more) | See hyper |
| hypo- | "a little"; "not enough" | hypokalemia, "not enough potassium in the blood" (more) | |
| ig- | "not" | ignoble, "not noble" ignorant, (from roots meaning) "not knowing" (more) |
ig- (before gn- or n-), il- (before l-), im- (before b-, m-, or p-), in- (before most letters), or ir- (before r-) |
| il- | "not" | illegal, "not legal" (more) | ig- (before gn- or n-), il- (before l-), im- (before b-, m-, or p-), in- (before most letters), or ir- (before r-) |
| im- | "not" | imbalance, "lack of balance" (more) | ig- (before gn- or n-), il- (before l-), im- (before b-, m-, or p-), in- (before most letters), or ir- (before r-) |
| in- | "not" | inactive, "not active" | ig- (before gn- or n-), il- (before l-), im- (before b-, m-, or p-), in- (before most letters), or ir- (before r-) |
| infra- | "below" | infrared, "below red on the spectrum" (more) | |
| inter- | "between" | interobserver, "between observers" (more) | |
| intra- | "within" | intracellular, "inside a cell" (more) | |
| ir- | "not" | irregular, "not regular" (more) | ig- (before gn- or n-), il- (before l-), im- (before b-, m-, or p-), in- (before most letters), or ir- (before r-) |
| macro- | "large-scale" | macroeconomics, "workings of entire economies" (more) | |
| mal- | "bad", "wrong" | malocclusion, "bad occlusion" (more) | |
| maxi- | "big", "as big as possible" | maxi-single, "single with extras" (more) | |
| meso- | "middle" | mesoamerican, "middle of the Americas" (more) | |
| micro- | "small-scale" | micrometer, "small-measurement instrument" (more) | |
| mid- | "middle" | midportion, "middle part" (more) | |
| mini- | "small" | miniature, "small"; "smaller version" (more) | |
| mis- | "bad", "wrong" | misspelling, "incorrect spelling" (more) | |
| mono- | "one" | monotheism, "belief in one god" (more) | See number prefixes in English |
| multi- | "many", "more than one" | multiplex, "many signals in one circuit" (more) | |
| non- | "no", "not" | nonstop, "without stopping" (more) | |
| octo- | "eight" | octopus, "eight-footed" (more) | See number prefixes in English |
| over- | "excess", "too much"; "on top" |
overexpression, "too much expression" overcoat, "outer coat" (more) |
|
| pan- | "all" | pancytopenia, "low counts across all cell types" pan-American, "involving all of the Americas" (more) |
Sometimes "all-" is used, especially in Asian English, where All-Union was a standard translation of the Russian word meaning "pan-USSR" or "USSR-wide", and "All-India" is a similar standard term in India, comparable to words such as national, nationwide, or federal (in the case of federations). |
| para- | "beside"; "beyond"; "related to"; "altered" | paranormal, "beyond the normal" paresthesia, "altered sensation" paramilitary, "military-like" (more) |
|
| penta- | "five" | pentateuch, "the five books of Moses" (more) | See number prefixes in English |
| per- | "through"; "throughout" | percutaneous, "through the skin" (more) | |
| peri- | "around" | pericardial, "around the heart" (more) | |
| poly- | "many" | polyglot, "many languages" (more) | |
| post- | "after" | postoperative, "after surgery" (more) | |
| pre- | "before"; "already" | preassembled, "already built" (more) | |
| pro- | "in favor of" | pro-science, "in favor of science" (more) | |
| proto- | "first"; "primitive"; "precursor" | Proto-Indo-European, "precursor of Indo-European" (more) | |
| pseudo- | "false", "specious" | pseudonym, "fake name" (more) | |
| quadri- | "four" | quadrilateral, "four-sided" (more) | See number prefixes in English |
| quasi- | "somewhat", "resembling" | quasiparticulate, "resembling particles" (more) | |
| re- | "again" | reestablish, "establish again" (more) | |
| self- | "[acting on or by] oneself" | self-cleaning, "cleans itself" (more) | By normative convention, always hyphenated (except for a few multiprefix compounds such as unselfconscious) |
| semi- | "partial"; "somewhat"; "half" | semiarid, "somewhat arid" (more) | See number prefixes in English |
| sub- | "below" | subzero, "below zero" (more) | |
| super- | "above"; "more than"; "great" | supermarket, "big market" (more) | |
| supra- | "above" | supraorbital, "above the eye sockets" (more) | |
| tetra- | "four" | tetravalent, "four valence electrons" (more) | See number prefixes in English |
| trans- | "across"; "connecting" | transatlantic, "across the Atlantic Ocean" (more) | |
| tri- | "three" | tripartite, "three parts" (more) | |
| ultra- | "beyond"; "extremely" | ultraviolet, "beyond violet on the spectrum" (more) | |
| un- | "not"; "remove"; "opposite" | unopened, "not opened" (more) | |
| under- | "beneath"; "not enough" | underexposure, "not enough exposure" (more) | |
| up- | "up"; "increase" | upshift, "shift to a higher gear" upregulation, "regulation toward increased expression" (more) |
|
| xeno- | "foreign" | xenophobia, "fear of strangers or foreigners" xenotransplantation, "transplant from another species" (more) |
Hyphenation
The choice between hyphenation or solid styling for prefixes in English is covered at [[Hyphen#Prefixes and suffixes|Hyphen > Prefixes and suffixes)flaflaflare '_'
In other languages
Japanese
The most commonly used prefix in Japanese, お o-, is used as part of the honorific system of speech. It is a marker for politeness, showing respect for the person or thing it is affixed to.[3]
Bantu languages
In the Bantu languages of Africa, which are agglutinating, the noun class is conveyed through prefixes, which is declined and agrees with all of its arguments accordingly.[4]
Example from Ganda
| Noun class | Prefix The man niged |
|---|---|
| 1 | o-mu- |
| 1a | ∅ |
| 2 | a-ba- |
| 3 | o-mu- |
| 4 | e-mi- |
| 5 | e-ri-/CC- |
| 6 | a-ma- |
| 7 | e-ki- |
| 8 | e-bi- |
| 9 | e-N- |
| 10 | e-N-/zi- |
- The one, old, fat farmer goes.
ò-mú-límí ò-mú-néné ò-mú-kâddé ò-mú à-∅-gênda ag-1-farmer ag-1-fat ag-1-old ag. one he-Pres-go
Navajo
Verbs in the Navajo language are formed with a stem and multiple affixes. For example, each verb requires one of four non-syllabic prefixes (∅, ł, d, l) to create a verb theme.[5]
Sunwar
In the language of the Sunuwar people of Eastern Nepal, the prefix ma- म is used to create negative verbs. It is the only verbal prefix in the language.
- Bad child! (scolding)
ma.rimʃo al NEG.nice child[6]
Russian
As a part of the formation of nouns, prefixes are less common in Russian than suffixes, but alter the meaning of a word.
в- and ложение 'position' becomes вложение 'investment' пре and образование 'formation (verb)' becomes преобразование 'transformation'[7]
German
In German, derivatives formed with prefixes may be classified in two categories: those used with substantives and adjectives, and those used with verbs.[8] For derivative substantives and adjectives, only two prefixes are still in use as of 1970: un-, which expresses negation (as in Ungesund from Gesund), and ur-, which means "original, primitive" in substantives, and has an emphatic function in adjectives. ge- expresses union or togetherness.[8]
On the other hand, verbal prefixes are still much in use: be-, er-, ent-, ge-, ver-, zer-, and miß-.[8] be- expresses strengthening or generalization. ent- expresses negation. ge- indicates the completion of an action, and that's why its most common use has become the forming of the past participle of verbs; ver- has an emphatic function, or it is used to turn a substantive or an adjective into a verb.[8] In some cases, the prefix particle ent- (negation) can be considered the opposite of particle be-, while er- can be considered the opposite of ver-.[9][10]
The prefix er- usually indicates the successful completion of an action, and sometimes the conclusion means death.[11] With fewer verbs, it indicates the beginning of and action.[8][11] The prefix er- is also used to form verbs from adjectives (e.g. erkalten is equivalent to kalt werden which means to get cold).[11]
See also
- Affix
- Suffix
- Privative
- Bound morpheme
- English prefixes
- List of Greek and Latin roots in English
- Prefix (computer science)
- SI prefix
References
- ^ a b Vedrana Mihalicek ed. (2011). Language Files, 11th Edition. Ohio State University. pp. 152–153.
- ^ Beard, Robert (1998). "She Derivation". The Handbook of Morphology. Blackwell. pp. 44–45.
{{cite book}}:|access-date=requires|url=(help) - ^ Wikibooks - Japanese/Grammar/Honorific prefixes
- ^ Nurse & Philippson (2003). The Bantu Languages. Routledge. pp. 103–110.
- ^ Young & Morgan (1980). The Navajo Language: A Grammar and Colloquial Dictionary. University of New Mexico Press. p. 99.
- ^ Borchers, D. (2008). A Grammar of Sunwar: Descriptive Grammar, Paradigms, Texts and Glossary. Brill Academic Publishers. p. 169.
- ^ Wade, T. (2000). A Comprehensive Russian Grammar. Blackwell Publishers. pp. 32, 33.
- ^ a b c d e Chambers, W. Walker and Wilkie, John R. (1970) A Short History of the German Language, London: Methuen & Com- pany, Ltd., p. 63
- ^ Daniel Boileau (1820) The Nature and Genius of the German Language pp. 203, 211
- ^ Maylor, B. Roger (2002) Lexical template morphology: change of state and the verbal prefixes in German p. 12
- ^ a b c Schmidt, Karla (1974) Easy ways to enlarge your German vocabulary p. 86
External links
The dictionary definition of prefix at Wiktionary
