Comprehensive List of 100 Prefixes and Suffixes in English

Prefixes and suffixes are important parts of words that we can add to sentences to change their meaning. A prefix is used at the beginning of a word, while a suffix is used at the end of words. For example, in the word ‘unhappy,’ UN ‘ is a prefix meaning ‘not, and ‘-ly’ is a suffix meaning ‘in a certain way. Learning about prefixes and suffixes can help us understand and use words better.

What is Prefix and Suffix?

Prefix:
A prefix is a little part we add at the beginning of a word. It changes or adds meaning to the word.
Example:
In ‘unhappy’ here the word UN turns the following word ‘Happy’ to  —> not happy.

Suffix:
A suffix is a part we add at the end of a word. It also changes or adds meaning.
Example:
In careful here ‘Full’  is the main word which means full of,  when a new word added at the end of this words, it becomes
–> Full of care.

Examples
Prefix Examples:

• Un- (e.g., unlock)
• Re- (e.g., redo)
• Pre- (e.g., preview)

Suffix Examples:

• -er (e.g., teacher)
• -ing (e.g., running)
• -ful (e.g., playful)

♦ Keep the Main Word:
The main word stays the same. For example, ‘happiness’ is the words that keeps the following word happy as its main word.

♦ Change Spelling Sometimes:
Sometimes, you need to change how a word is spelled. Like  here ‘dependent’ is the words which becomes independent  when you add IN at the beginning of this word.

♦ Double Letters:
If you add a suffix starting with a vowel (like -ing or -ed) to a word ending in one vowel and one consonant, double the last letter.
So, here Stop is a word that becomes Stopped with the addition of ED at the end.

♦ Drop Silent E:
If a word has a silent E at the end and you add a suffix starting with a vowel, drop the silent E from the last of this word. For example, the word hope Here turns into —> hoping

♦ Change Y to I:
When a word ends in a consonant and ‘y,’  we need to change the Y to I  before adding a suffix. Like we we have this word happy it becomes —>happier. when we change the letter Y to I. 

Suffixes and Prefixes Examples

Prefix Examples

Prefix	Meaning	Example Word	Example Sentence
Inter-	Between	Connect	The bridge helps interconnect the two islands.
Intra-	Within	Personal	Intrapersonal skills are essential for self-awareness.
Trans-	Across, beyond	Atlantic	The transatlantic flight took several hours.
Mal-	Bad, evil	Function	A malfunction indicates a malfunctioning system.
En-	Cause to	Rich	Hard work can enrich one’s life.
Anti-	Against	Social	She is an antisocial person, preferring solitude.
Co-	Together, with	Operate	The team needs to cooperate for success.
Hyper-	Over, excessive	Active	An hyperactive child may have difficulty sitting still.
Sub-	Under, below	Marine	The submarine explored the depths of the ocean.
Pro-	In favor of, supporting	Active	Being proactive is essential for success.
Multi-	Many	Cultural	Our society is diverse with a multicultural population.
Per-	Through	Spective	The artist used a unique perspective in the painting.
Neo-	New, modern	Classical	Neoclassical music combines traditional and modern elements.
Circum-	Around	Navigate	Sailors learn to circumnavigate the globe.
Anti-	Against	Social	She is an antisocial person, preferring solitude.
Auto-	Self	Biography	An autobiography tells one’s life story.
Tele-	Distant	Vision	Television brings distant events to our homes.
Semi-	Half	Circle	A semicircle has a curved shape like half a circle.
Post-	After	War	Postwar reconstruction efforts were significant.
Micro-	Small	Organism	A microorganism can only be seen under a microscope.
Retro-	Backward, behind	Grade	The school decided to retrograde the student to a lower class.
Uni-	One	Verse	The idea of a multiverse challenges the idea of a universe.
Over-	Too much, excessive	Achieve	Attempting to overachieve can lead to burnout.
Extra-	Beyond, outside	Curricular	The school offers extracurricular activities.
Bi-	Two	Weekly	The team has biweekly meetings to discuss progress.
Semi-	Half	Circle	A semicircle has a curved shape like half a circle.
Dis-	Opposite of	Similar	The two paintings were dissimilar in style.
Macro-	Large, long	Economics	Macroeconomics studies the overall economy.
Anti-	Against	Inflammatory	The medication has anti-inflammatory properties.
Circum-	Around	Navigate	Sailors learn to circumnavigate the globe.

Suffix Examples

Suffix	Meaning	Example Word	Example Sentence
-Ary	Relating to	Liter	A book is a literary work of art.
-Ous	Having, full of	Marvel	The landscape was marvelous, full of natural wonders.
-Ward	Direction, in the direction of	Down	She walked downward towards the valley.
-Ful	Full of	Help	The volunteer’s actions were helpful to the community.
-Ology	Study of	Biology	Biology is the ology that studies living organisms.
-Phobia	Fear of	Arachn	Arachnophobia is the fear of spiders.
-Ism	Doctrine, belief	Capital	Capitalism is an economic system based on private ownership.
-Eer	Engaged in, associated with	Puppet	A puppeteer is skilled in manipulating puppets during a performance.
-Ial	Relating to	Colon	The grammarian explained the correct usage of colial punctuation.
-Tion	Act or process of	Educate	The act of educating is called education
-Tion	Act or process of	Educate	The act of educating is called education.
-Ive	Tending to	Attract	The colorful display is attractive to the audience.
-Fy	Make, form into	Terrify	The horror movie will terrify even the bravest viewer.
-Ous	Full of, having	Joy	The atmosphere was joyous during the celebration.
-Itis	Inflammation of	Tendon	Tendonitis causes pain and swelling in the tendons.
-Y	Characterized by	Happ	The child’s laughter sounded happy and carefree.
-Ish	Somewhat	Child	The toy was suitable for a childish play.
-En	Cause to	Strengthen	Exercise can help enstrengthen your muscles.
-Able	Capable of	Depend	Being dependable means being trustable.
-Ology	Study of	Psychology	Psychology is the study of the mind
-Ish	Somewhat	Fool	His explanation sounded foolish.
-Able	Capable of	Understand	With practice, the concept becomes understandable.
-Ous	Full of, having	Marvel	The landscape was marvelous, full of natural wonders.
-Ive	Tending to	Attract	The new fragrance is designed to attractive.
-Ology	Study of	Biology	Biology is the ology that studies living organisms.
-Phobia	Fear of	Arachn	Arachnophobia is the fear of spiders.
-Ism	Doctrine, belief	Capital	Capitalism is an economic system based on private ownership.
-Eer	Engaged in, associated with	Puppet	A puppeteer is skilled in manipulating puppets during a performance.
-Ial	Relating to	Colonial	The museum displays artifacts from the colonial period.
-Tion	Act or process of	Invent	The invention of the wheel revolutionized transportation.

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