English Vocabulary & Language 30 flashcards ~15 min

Prefixes and Suffixes - Word Formation

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Understanding prefixes and suffixes is one of the most powerful vocabulary-building strategies in English, because it lets you decode the meaning of thousands of unfamiliar words just by recognizing their parts. Rather than memorizing every word individually, learning the building blocks of English morphology allows you to break down complex vocabulary systematically — a strategy heavily tested on the SAT, GRE, and other standardized exams.

This deck covers the most common prefixes (un-, re-, dis-, pre-, mis-, anti-, sub-, inter-, over-, under-) and suffixes (-tion, -able, -ful, -less, -ology, -ism, -ise/ize, -ward, -ly, -ness), explaining their meanings and how suffixes change a word's part of speech. Based on standard English morphology references.

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Meaning: not, opposite of. Examples: unhappy, undo, unable. One of the most common negative prefixes.

Meaning: again, back. Examples: rewrite, return, rebuild. Indicates repetition or reversal.

Meaning: not, opposite of, apart. Examples: disagree, disconnect, disappear.

Meaning: before. Examples: preview, predict, prehistoric.

Meaning: wrongly, badly. Examples: misunderstand, misspell, mislead.

Meaning: against, opposing. Examples: antibiotic, antisocial, antivirus. From Greek "anti."

Meaning: under, below. Examples: submarine, subway, subordinate. From Latin "sub."

Meaning: between, among. Examples: international, interact, intersect.

Meaning: too much, above. Examples: overeat, overconfident, overhead.

Meaning: too little, below. Examples: underestimate, underground, underpaid.

Meaning: together, with. Examples: cooperate, coexist, collaborate. From Latin "cum."

Meaning: not. Examples: nonfiction, nonsense, nonstop. Neutral negative prefix.

Meaning: above, beyond, greater. Examples: superhuman, supervise, superior.

Meaning: self. Examples: autobiography, automatic, autonomous. From Greek "autos."

Converts a verb into a noun of action/state. Examples: create → creation, decide → decision.

Means "capable of being." Converts verbs into adjectives. Examples: read → readable, access → accessible.

Means "full of." Examples: hope → hopeful, care → careful, beauty → beautiful.

Means "without." Examples: hope → hopeless, care → careless, home → homeless. Opposite of "-ful."

Means "the study of." Examples: biology, psychology, geology. From Greek "logos."

Means "a belief system or condition." Examples: capitalism, optimism, tourism.

Converts adjectives/nouns into verbs meaning "to make." Examples: modern → modernize, real → realize.

Means "in the direction of." Examples: forward, backward, homeward.

Converts adjectives into adverbs. Examples: quick → quickly, happy → happily. Most common adverb suffix.

Converts an adjective into a noun of state/quality. Examples: happy → happiness, dark → darkness.

Converts a verb into a noun of action/result. Examples: develop → development, govern → government.

"-ology" is the field of study (biology); "-ologist" is the person who practices it (biologist).

The core part of a word carrying its fundamental meaning, to which affixes attach (e.g., "port" = carry, in transport, export).

Converts a verb into an agent noun meaning "one who does." Examples: teach → teacher, act → actor.

All mean "not," but spelling changes for pronunciation: illegal, impossible, irregular, inaccurate.

Recognizing familiar prefixes/suffixes lets you guess an unfamiliar word's meaning and part of speech without memorizing it directly.