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Linguistics & Grammar vocabulary · Morphology and Word Formation

Prefix

Meaning in linguistics & grammar, with examples

/ˈpriːfɪks/nounCore term

In linguistics & grammar, prefix means: A letter or group of letters added to the beginning of a word to make a new word with a different meaning, such as un- in unhappy or re- in rewrite.

In Turkish: önek, ön ek

How it is used

English prefixes are mostly derivational and usually keep the word class (happy, unhappy). Common groups are negative prefixes (un-, in-, dis-), time prefixes (pre-, post-) and number prefixes (bi-, multi-).

Example sentences

  1. The prefix in- becomes im- before p, so we write impossible, not inpossible.

  2. Ask students to sort these words by prefix: dislike, unfair, misread, overcook.

Common collocations

  • negative prefix
  • add a prefix
  • common prefixes
  • prefix meaning 'not'
  • suffixA letter or group of letters added to the end of a word to change its meaning, its word class or its grammatical form, such as -ness, -ful or -ed.
  • affixA piece added to a word to change its meaning or grammatical form, such as a prefix at the start (re-) or a suffix at the end (-ed).
  • derivationThe process of making a new word from an existing one, usually by adding an affix, as when teach becomes teacher or happy becomes unhappy.
  • rootThe core part of a word that carries its basic meaning and cannot be broken into smaller meaningful parts, such as 'form' in reformation or 'kitap' in kitaplık.

More terms: Morphology and Word Formation

Practise with graded reading

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