Discussant: Balatico Jean Lee C.

LESSON 3: PREFIXES AND SUFFIXES

Morphological level of a language constitutes a significant part in the structure of a language. Prefixes
and suffixes should be taken in the same respect. The reason is that they have a very big area of usage in
English language. Learners use them widely, and sometimes, they may have be misused. The aim of this
lesson at first is to clarify the topic of prefixes and suffixes.

How Words Are Divided?

Many words that can be divided have two or more parts: a core called a root and one or more parts added to
it. The parts that are added are called affixes—literally, “something fixed or attached to something else.” An
affix added before the root is called a prefix; one added after a root is called a suffix. A word may have one or
more affixes of either kind, or several of both kinds. Only compound words like baseball and post-office have
more than one root. A root with no affixes at all is incapable of being divided.

PREFIXES ROOT SUFFIXES EXAMPLE

dis- put- -able disputable
post- war postwar
sole -ly solely
soft -en, -ing softeniing
il- leg- -ible illegible
un- self --ish,-ly unselfishly
under- hand -ed underhanded
bliss -ful blissful

Roots are often independent words, as in the case of war, self and hand in the table above. They are then
called free forms. But some roots, like -clude in conclude, are not words by themselves. Such roots are called
bound forms. Most affixes are bound forms.

PREFIX

 “A term used in morphology referring to an affix which is added initially to a root or stem” David
Crystal (1991) Dictionary of Linguistic and Phonetics.
 “One or two syllable additions at the beginning of a word that changes its meaning but do not change
its part of speech”. (Maclin, 1992:387)
 “A prefix is an affix attached before a root or a stem or a base like re-un- and in-“ Katamba (1993)

There are many prefixes in English language. This is mostly because of the borrowed words from many
other languages. Prefixes have many uses, and they are in different structures. This also depends on the
effects of other languages on English. In order to understand the meaning and use of a prefix, it should be
examined with its meaning and related examples. Here is a list of some English prefixes with their meanings
and some examples.
 PREFIX MEANING EXAMPLES
Old English
a- in, on, of, up, to abed, afoot
for- away, off, from forget, forsware
ore- before, previous foretell, forefathers
mis- bad, poorly, not misspell, misfire
un- not, opposing unfold, untrue

Latin
ab- from, away, off abdicate, abjure
ante- before, previous antecedent, antedate
bi- two, twice bisect, biennial
circum- around circumspect, circumference
com- with, together, very commotion, complicate
contra- against, opposing contradict, contravene
dis- away, off, down, not dissent, disappear
ex- out extract
in- not, opposing incapable, ineligible
inter- among, between intercede, interrupt
post- after, following postpone, postscript
pre- before prevent, preclude
re- back, backward, again revoke, recur
retro- back, backward retrospect, retrograde
sub- under, beneath subjugate, substitute
trans- across, beyond, over transact, transport

Greek
a- without, lacking atheist, agnostic
anti- against, opposing antipathy, antitoxin
apo from, away apology, apostate
cata- doen, away, thoroughly catastrophe, cataclysm
dia- through, across, apart diameter, diagnose
hyper- excessive, over hypercritical, hypertension
hypo- under, beneath hypodermic, hypothesis
pro- before prognosis, program
sym with, together sympathy, symphony

If a word was a noun before the addition of the prefix, it stayed as a noun.

If it was a verb before the addition of a prefix, after the addition of the prefix it stayed as a
verb again.

From all these said what is understood is that the term prefix is related to morphology, and it is a kind of
affix. It comes before a root, a stem or a base and does not change the part of speech of that word. It
is also a kind of bound morpheme, that is to say, it cannot be used in a sentence separately. It has to be used
with a free morpheme.

SUFFIXES

Suffixes you will recall are affixes added after the root, or at the end of a word. There are two main
kinds of suffixes: those that provide a grammatical signal of some kind but do not greatly alter the basic
meaning of the word and those that, by being added, create new words. The endings –s, -ed, and –ing are
suffixes of the first kind; by adding them to work (works, worked, working) we indicate something about
number and tense, but we do not change the essential meaning of the word. This kind of suffix is a
grammatical suffix.

Grammatical suffixes are important in grammar, but in vocabulary we are more concerned with the
second kind of suffixes—those that make new words. By adding –ful to thank, we get a different word:
thankful. Adding –hood to girl gives us girlhood, again a different word. Suffixes that change meaning in this
way are called derivational suffixes. Notice in the following examples that the addition of a derivational suffix
often gives a new part of speech as well as new meaning.

ROOT SUFFIX RESULT

friend (n.) -ly friendly (adj.)
critic (n.) -ize criticize (v.)
prefer (v.) -ence preference (n.)
child (n.) -hood childhood (n.)

In suffixation, the part of speech of a word may undergo a change as well. For example, a noun may
become a verb after the addition of a suffix, or a verb may become an adjective similarly.

Since derivational suffixes so often determine the part of speech of English words, we can classify them
according to the parts of speech.

NOUN SUFFIXES MEANING EXAMPLES

Old English
-dom state, rank, condition serfdom, wisdom
-er doer, maker hunter, dancer
-hood state, condition manhood, statehood
-ness quality, state greatness, tallness
-th act, state, quality warmth, width
Foreign (Latin, French, Greek)
-age process, state, rank passage, bondage
-ance act, condition, fact acceptance, vigilance
-ard one that does(esp. drunkard, wizard
excessively)
-ate rank, office delegate, primate
-ation action, state, result occupation, starvation
-cy state, condition accuracy, captaincy
-er doer, dealer in, result baker, diner, rejoinder
-ess feminine waitress, lioness
-ion action, result, state union, fusion
-ism -act, manner, doctrine barbarism, socialism
-ist doer, believer monopolist, socialist
-ition action, state, result sedition, expedition
-ity state, quality, condition acidity, civility
-ment means, result, action refreshment, disappointment
-or doer, office, action juror, elevator, honor
-tude quality, state, result magnitude, fortitude
 -ty quality, state enmity, activity
ADJECTIVE SUFFIXES MEANING EXAMPLES
Old English
-en made of, like wooden, ashen
-ful full of, marked by thankful, zestful
-ish suggesting, like churlish, childish
-less lacking, without hopeless, countless
-like like, similar childlike, dreamlike
-ly like, of the nature of friendly, queenly
-some apt to, showing tiresome, lonesome
-ward in the direction of backward, homeward
Foreign
-able able, likely capable, tolerable
-ate having, showing separate, desolate
-esque in the style of, like picturesque, grotesque
-fic making, causing terrific, beatific
-ible able, likely, fit edible, possible, divisible
-ous marked by, given to religious, riotous
VERB SUFFIXES MEANING EXAMPLES
Old English
-en cause to be, become deepen, strengthen
Foreign
-ate become, form, treat animate, sublimate
-esce become, grow, continue convalesce, acquiesce
-fy make, cause, cause to have glorify, fortify
-ish do, make, perform punish, finish
-ize make, cause to be, treat with sterilize, motorize, criticize

Roots

A root is the core of a word—the part to which prefixes and suffixes are added. To find the root, you
usually have only to remove any affix there may be. For example, removal of the affixes a- and –ous from
amorphous leaves us with –morph-, a root meaning “form or shape.” The root -clysm-, meaning “falling,”
remains after we remove the prefix cata-, meaning “down,” from cataclysm.

Roots have more specific and definite meanings than either prefixes or suffixes, and a particular root
appears in fewer different words. The following list contains some of the common roots in English.

ROOT MEANING EXAMPLES

-ag-, -act- do, drive, impel agent, reaction
-am-, -amic- friend, love amatory, amicable
-aqu- water aquatic, aqueduct, aquarium
-aud-, -audit- hear audible, auditorium
-ben-, -bene- well, good benefit, benediction
-capit- head capital, decapitate
-carn- flesh carnal, carnivorous
-cent- hundred century, percent
-clud-, -clus- close, shut conclude, seclusion
 -cogn- know, be acquainted recognize, cognizant
-cred- belief, trust incredible, credulity
-crypt- hidden, secret crypt, cryptic
-duc-, -duct- lead educate, conductor
-fer- bear, yield transfer, fertile
-fid- belief, faith fidelity, perfidious
-fin- end, limit final, indefinite
-frag-, -fract- break fragment, fraction, fragile

References:

Harcourt Brace Jovanovich (2005) Warriner’s English Grammar and Composition

Fifth Course Prefixes and Suffixes
Journal of Language and Linguistic Studies Vol.2 No. 1 (2006).
Ways of Creating Prefixes and Suffixes and Foreign Language Teaching