Learning English prefixes and suffixes can help you understand unfamiliar words, expand your vocabulary and recognise how words are formed.
A prefix is added to the beginning of a word, while a suffix is added to the end. Both can change a word’s meaning or grammatical form.
This guide explains the most common English prefixes and suffixes, with simple examples for beginners and intermediate learners.
What is a prefix?
A prefix is a group of letters added to the beginning of a word to change its meaning.
For example:
happy → unhappy
The prefix un- changes the meaning from happy to not happy.
Other examples include:
- agree → disagree
- possible → impossible
- write → rewrite
- national → international
- regular → irregular
Common English prefixes
1. Un-
un- often expresses the opposite or absence of something.
Examples:
- happy → unhappy
- fair → unfair
- kind → unkind
- known → unknown
- important → unimportant
- comfortable → uncomfortable
Example:
The instructions were unclear.
2. Dis-
dis- can express opposition, separation or reversal.
Examples:
- agree → disagree
- appear → disappear
- connect → disconnect
- honest → dishonest
- approve → disapprove
Example:
I disagree with that statement.
3. Re-
re- often means “again” or “back”.
Examples:
- write → rewrite
- read → reread
- build → rebuild
- use → reuse
- organise → reorganise
Example:
Please reread the instructions.
4. Pre-
pre- often means “before”.
Examples:
- school → preschool
- view → preview
- paid → prepaid
- historic → prehistoric
- plan → preplan
Example:
We watched a preview of the film.
5. Post-
post- often means “after”.
Examples:
- graduate → postgraduate
- war → post-war
- election → post-election
- production → post-production
Example:
She is studying for a postgraduate degree.
6. Mis-
mis- often means “wrongly” or “incorrectly”.
Examples:
- understand → misunderstand
- spell → misspell
- lead → mislead
- behave → misbehave
- inform → misinform
Example:
I misunderstood the question.
7. Over-
over- can mean too much or excessively.
Examples:
- cook → overcook
- work → overwork
- pay → overpay
- confident → overconfident
- weight → overweight
Example:
Do not overcook the vegetables.
8. Under-
under- can indicate something below the expected amount, level or degree.
Examples:
- estimate → underestimate
- develop → underdevelop
- paid → underpaid
- ground → underground
Example:
The project was underestimated.
9. Inter-
inter- often means “between” or “among”.
Examples:
- national → international
- active → interactive
- connected → interconnected
- school → interschool
Example:
English is an international language.
10. Super-
super- can indicate something above, beyond or greater than usual.
Examples:
- human → superhuman
- market → supermarket
- star → superstar
- natural → supernatural
Example:
She bought groceries at the supermarket.
Prefixes that express negative meanings
Several prefixes can create negative forms.
| Prefix | Example | New word | un- | happy | unhappy | dis- | agree | disagree | in- | correct | incorrect | im- | possible | impossible | il- | legal | illegal | ir- | regular | irregular | non- | smoking | non-smoking | mis- | understand | misunderstand |
|---|
In-, im-, il- and ir-
These prefixes are related forms of negative in-, with the spelling changing in certain words.
Examples:
- correct → incorrect
- complete → incomplete
- possible → impossible
- patient → impatient
- legal → illegal
- logical → illogical
- regular → irregular
- responsible → irresponsible
What is a suffix?
A suffix is a group of letters added to the end of a word.
Suffixes can change the meaning or grammatical category of a word.
For example:
teach → teacher
The suffix -er changes the verb into a noun referring to a person who teaches.
Common English suffixes
1. -er
Often forms nouns referring to people who perform an action.
- teach → teacher
- work → worker
- drive → driver
- write → writer
- run → runner
Example:
Her father is a teacher.
2. -or
Also forms nouns referring to people or things performing an action.
- act → actor
- direct → director
- inspect → inspector
- invent → inventor
3. -ness
Often forms nouns referring to a quality, state or condition.
- happy → happiness
- kind → kindness
- dark → darkness
- weak → weakness
- ill → illness
Example:
Kindness is an important quality.
4. -ment
Often forms nouns from verbs.
- develop → development
- improve → improvement
- achieve → achievement
- agree → agreement
- govern → government
Example:
The company announced an important development.
5. -tion and -sion
These commonly form nouns.
- inform → information
- educate → education
- communicate → communication
- decide → decision
- discuss → discussion
Example:
Good communication is important at work.
6. -ity
Often forms abstract nouns.
- active → activity
- possible → possibility
- responsible → responsibility
- equal → equality
- popular → popularity
7. -ful
Often forms adjectives meaning “full of” or “characterised by”.
- care → careful
- help → helpful
- use → useful
- beauty → beautiful
- hope → hopeful
Example:
The information was helpful.
8. -less
Often means “without”.
- hope → hopeless
- care → careless
- home → homeless
- use → useless
- fear → fearless
Example:
The instructions were useless.
9. -ly
Often forms adverbs from adjectives.
- quick → quickly
- slow → slowly
- careful → carefully
- happy → happily
- serious → seriously
Example:
She answered the question carefully.
10. -able and -ible
These often form adjectives meaning “can be” or “suitable for”.
- read → readable
- understand → understandable
- comfort → comfortable
- access → accessible
- sense → sensible
Example:
The article is easy to understand and highly readable.
Word families
Prefixes and suffixes are particularly useful because they help you recognise word families.
For example:
help
- help — verb/noun
- helpful — adjective
- helpless — adjective
- helper — noun
- helpfully — adverb
- helpfulness — noun
Another example:
care
- care — noun/verb
- careful — adjective
- careless — adjective
- carefully — adverb
- carelessness — noun
How prefixes and suffixes improve vocabulary
You do not always need to memorise every new word as a completely separate word.
If you understand common word parts, you can sometimes work out the general meaning of unfamiliar words from their structure.
For example:
un + helpful = unhelpful
re + use = reuse
care + less = careless
happy + ness = happiness
However, English has many exceptions and words with historical origins that do not follow simple rules. Always check an unfamiliar word in a reliable dictionary.
Prefix and suffix practice
Try to create a new word using the correct prefix or suffix.
- happy → ______
- agree → ______
- write → ______
- teach → ______
- kind → ______
- care → ______
- use → ______
- possible → ______
- develop → ______
- understand → ______
Answers
Possible answers include:
- unhappy
- disagree
- rewrite
- teacher
- kindness
- careful/careless
- useful/useless
- impossible
- development
- misunderstand