Aprefixis anaffixwhich is placed before thestemof a word.[1]Particularly in the study of languages, a prefix is also called apreformative,because it alters the form of the word to which it is affixed.
Prefixes, like other affixes, can be eitherinflectional,creating a new form of a word with the same basic meaning and samelexical category,orderivational,creating a new word with a newsemanticmeaning and sometimes also a differentlexical category.[2]Prefixes, like all affixes, are usuallybound morphemes.[1]
Englishhas no inflectional prefixes, using onlysuffixesfor that purpose. Adding a prefix to the beginning of an English word changes it to a different word. For example, when the prefixun-is added to the wordhappy,it creates the wordunhappy.
The wordprefixis itself made up of the stemfix(meaning "attach", in this case), and the prefixpre-(meaning "before" ), both of which are derived fromLatinroots.
English language
editList of English derivational prefixes
editThis is a fairly comprehensive, although not exhaustive, list of derivational prefixes in English. Depending on precisely how one defines a derivational prefix, some of the neoclassicalcombining formsmay or may not qualify for inclusion in such a list. This list takes the broad view thatacro-andauto-count as English derivational prefixes because they function the same way that prefixes such asover-andself-do.
As fornumeral prefixes,only the most common members of that class are included here. There is a large separate table covering them all atNumeral prefix > Table of number prefixes in English.
| Prefix | Meaning | Example | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|
| a- | "not" | asymmetric,"not symmetric" | takes the form an- beforevowels;seeprivative Alpha |
| acro- | "high" | acrophobia,"fear of heights" (more) | |
| allo- | "other" | allotransplantation,"transplant of tissue from another person" (more) | |
| alter- | "other" | alter ego,"other personality" (more) | |
| ante- | "prior" | antebellum,"before a war" | |
| anti- | "opposite" | anti-inflammatory,"against inflammation" (more) | |
| auto- | "by oneself or itself" | automobile,"moves itself" (more) | |
| bi- | "two" | bicentennial,"consisting of or occurring every two centuries"
binomial,"two terms" |
Seenumber prefixes in English |
| co- | "together" | cooperation,"working together" | takes the form con- before vowels |
| cis- | "on the same side" | cisgenesis,"genes don't change within breeding and birth setting" | |
| contra- | "below"; "against" | contraindication,"against indication" (more) | |
| counter- | "against" | countermeasure,"action against" (more) | |
| de- | "negative, remove" | deactivate,"stop from working" | |
| di- | "two" | diatomic,"two atoms"
dipole,"two poles" |
Seenumber 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- | "upon addition", "above" | epidural,"outside the dura mater" (more) | |
| extra- | "to a greater extent"; "beyond" | extracellular,"outside a cell" (more) | |
| fore- | "before" | foresight,"seeing beforehand" (more) | |
| hemi- | "half" | hemisphere,"half of a sphere" (more) | Seenumber prefixes in English |
| hexa- | "six" | hexagon,"six-sided polygon" (more) | Seenumber prefixes in English |
| hyper- | "beyond" | hypercalcemia,"too much calcium in the blood" (more) | Seehyper |
| hypo- | "marginal"; "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"; "exceptionally prominent" | macroeconomics,"workings of entire economies" (more) | |
| mal- | "unpleasant", "not" | malocclusion,"bad occlusion" (more) | |
| maxi- | "big", "as big as possible" | maxi-single,"single with extras" (more) | |
| meso- | "middle" | mesoamerican,"middle of the Americas" (more) | |
| meta- | "self-referential" | metadata,"data that provides information about other data" (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) | Seenumber 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) | Seenumber prefixes in English |
| over- | "excess", "too much"; "on top" |
overexpression,"too much expression" overcoat,"outer coat" (more) |
|
| pan- | "all" | pancytopenia,"low counts across all [blood] cell types" pan-American,"involving all of the Americas" pansexual,"sexually attracted to people of all genders" (more) |
Sometimes "all-" is used, especially in Asian English, whereAll-Unionwas 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 asnational,nationwide,orfederal(in the case offederations). |
| 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) | Seenumber 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- | "on behalf of"; "before" | pro-science,"in favor of science" (more) | |
| proto- | "first"; "primitive"; "precursor" | Proto-Indo-European,"precursor of Indo-European" prototype,"first or prime example" (more) |
|
| pseudo- | "false", "specious" | pseudonym,"fake name" (more) | |
| quadri- | "four" | quadrilateral,"four-sided" (more) | Seenumber 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 asunselfconscious) |
| semi- | "partial"; "somewhat"; "half" | semiarid,"somewhat arid" (more) | Seenumber 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) | Seenumber 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
editThe choice between hyphenation or solid styling for prefixes in English is covered atHyphen > Prefixes and suffixes.
Japanese language
editCommonly used prefixes inJapaneseinclude お〜(o-)and ご〜(go-).They are used as part of thehonorific system of speech,and are used as markers for politeness, showing respect for the person or thing they are affixed to, notably also being usedeuphemistically.[3][4]
Bantu languages
editIn theBantu languagesofAfrica,which areagglutinating,thenoun classis conveyed through prefixes, which isdeclinedand agrees with all of its arguments accordingly.[5]
| Noun class | Prefix |
|---|---|
| 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- |
ò-mú-límí
AG-CL1-farmer
ò-mú-néné
AG-CL1-fat
ò-mú-kâddé
AG-CL1-old
ò-mú
AG.one
à-∅-gênda
he-PRES-go
The one, old, fat farmer goes.
Navajo
editVerbs in theNavajo languageare formed from aword stemand multiple affixes. For example, each verb requires one of fournon-syllabicprefixes (∅,ł,d,l) to create a verb theme.[6]
Sunwar
editIn theSunwar languageofEastern Nepal,the prefixma-म is used to createnegative verbs.It is the onlyverbal prefixin the language.
Russian
editAs a part of the formation of nouns, prefixes are less common in Russian than suffixes, but alter the meaning of a word.
пред-andположение'position'becomesпредположение'supposition' пре-andобразование'formation (verb)'becomesпреобразование'transformation'[8]
German
editIn German,derivativesformed with prefixes may be classified in two categories: those used with substantives and adjectives, and those used with verbs.[9]For derivative substantives and adjectives, only twoproductiveprefixes are generally addable to any substantive or adjective as of 1970:un-,which expresses negation (as inungesund,fromgesund), andur-,which means "original, primitive" in substantives, and has an emphatic function in adjectives.ge-,on the other hand, expresses union or togetherness, but only in a closed group of words—it cannot simply be added to any noun or adjective.[10]
Verbal prefixes commonly in use arebe-,ent-,er-,ge-,miss-,ver-,andzer-(see alsoSeparable verb).[10]be-expresses strengthening or generalization.ent-expresses negation.ge-indicates the completion of an action, which is why its most common use has become the forming of thepast participleof verbs;ver-has an emphatic function, or it is used to turn a substantive or an adjective into a verb.[9]In some cases, the prefix particleent-(negation) can be considered the opposite of particlebe-,whileer-can be considered the opposite ofver-.[11][12]
The prefixer-usually indicates the successful completion of an action, and sometimes the conclusion means death.[13]With fewer verbs, it indicates the beginning of an action.[9][13]The prefixer-is also used to form verbs from adjectives (e.g.erkaltenis equivalent tokalt werdenwhich means "to get cold" ).[13]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^abWilson 2011,p. 152–153.
- ^Beard, Robert (1998). "She Derivation".The Handbook of Morphology.Blackwell. pp. 44–45.
- ^Miyake, Yoshimi (1999).The Japanese deferential prefix o: A natural history(PhD).University of Michigan.hdl:2027.42/131729.Retrieved2021-05-12.
- ^Kaiser, Stefan; Ichikawa, Yasuko; Kobayashi, Noriko; Yamamoto, Hilofumi (2013).Japanese: A Comprehensive Grammar.pp. 29–31.ISBN9780415687393.
- ^Nurse, Derek; Philippson, Gérard, eds. (2003).The Bantu languages.London: Routledge. pp. 103–110.ISBN9780700711345.
- ^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.ISBN9781405136396.
- ^abca short history of the german language.Taylor & Francis.
- ^abCf. Chambers, W. Walker and Wilkie, John R. (1970)A Short History of the German Language,London: Methuen & Company, Ltd.,p. 63
- ^Boileau, Daniel (1820).The Nature and Genius of the German Language: Displayed in a More Extended Review of Its Grammatical Forms Than is to be Found in Any Grammar Extant, and Elucidated by Quotations from the Best Writers.T. Boosey and sons.
- ^Maylor, B. Roger (2002-01-01).Lexical Template Morphology: Change of State and the Verbal Prefixes in German.John Benjamins Publishing.ISBN978-90-272-3061-4.
- ^abcSchmidt, Karl A. (1974-01-01).Easy Ways to Enlarge Your German Vocabulary.Courier Corporation.ISBN978-0-486-23044-3.
Works cited
edit- Mihaliček, Vedrana;Wilson, Christin(2011).Language Files: Materials for an Introduction to Language and Linguistics.Ohio State University Press.ISBN978-0-8142-5179-9.
