Some notes on prefixation in English

1. WORD-FORMATION
Prefixes
José A. Alcalde López
from “A comprehensive Grammar of the English
Language” by Quirk [et al]
Like many languages, English also includes affixes as a way to increase its vocabulary. In this case we
will pay special attention to prefixes, which come before the base. Here are some features to bear in mind:
• From the Renaissance to the 20th
century English followed word-formation models according to Latin
and Greek (this was especially so in the lexicon of Natural Sciences).
• For this reason, most prefixes are from Latin, Greek or French origin.
• There are many possibilities when using prefixes and many times it is a matter of wide acceptance
rather than correctness.
• Some prefixes are very productive and others not so.
• Prefixes add some meaning (negativity, recurrence, opposition, etc.) but they don't change the word
class. Ex.: patient (adj.) > impatient (also adj.)
• Sometimes a hyphen (-) is used to prevent a double occurrence of a vowel (Ex.: re-emphasize).
• Generally speaking prefixes are unstressed.
Let us now distinguish prefixes according to their most common meaning:
NEGATIVITY
a- / an- as in amoral, atheist, anusual
dis- as in disobey, disconnect
in- / im- / il- / ir as in indirect, impossible, illegal, irregular
(but always less productive than un-)
non- usually hyphenated as in non-alcoholic, non-smoker
un- (this is by far the most productive negative prefix) as in
unfair, unhappy, uncommon
REVERSATIVE
de- as in decentralize, defrost, decompose
un- as in undo, unzip, unpack
PEJORATIVE
mal- as in maltreat, malfunction, malnutrition
mis- as in miscarriage, misunderstanding
pseudo- as is pseudo-scientific, pseudo-classical
DEGREE / SIZE
arch- (supreme) as in archbishop, archduke
co- (equal) as in co-education, co-operative
hyper- (extreme) as is hyperactive, hypermarket
mini- (little) as in mini-skirt, mini-cab
out- (surpassing) as in outnumber, outlive
over- (excessive) as in overbooking, overdo
sub- (below) as in subconscious, subnormal
super- (more than...) as in superman, superstar
sur- (over and above) as in surcharge, surtax
ultra- (extreme) as in ultralight, ultrasound
under- (too little) as in underage, underestimate
LOCATION
fore- (front part) as in forearm, forehead, forename
inter- (between) as in interact, intermarry
sub- (under) as in subdivide, subcontract, subway
super- (above) as in superstructure, superscript
trans- (across) as in transatlantic, transplant
ORIENTATION / ATTITUDE
anti- (against) as in anti-social, anti-clerical
contra- (opposite) as in contrafactual, contraindicate
counter- (against) as in counter-revolution
pro- (on the side of...) as in pro-American, pro-student
TIME
ex- (former) as in ex-president, ex-husband
fore- (before) as in foretell, forewarn
post- (after) as in post-war, postpone
pre- (before) as in pre-school, pre-heat
re- (again) as in re-evaluate, re-use
NUMBER
semi- / demi- (half) as in semidetached, semi-
skimmed, demigod, semiconscious
uni- / mono- (one) as in unicycle, unisex, monorail
bi- / di- (two) as in bisexual, biplane, digraph,
dichotomy
tri- (three) as in tripod, tricycle
multi- / poly- (many) as in multi-screen, multiracial,
polyglot, polygon
OTHERS
There are other prefixes which may also occur occasionaly like auto- (self), extra- (exceptionally), neo- (new), paleo-
(old), pan- (all, worldwide), proto- (original), tele- (distant), vice- (deputy), etc.