English Prefixes
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English Prefixes
Last week we talked about affixes.
We defined affixes as ‘morphemes
that must be attached to a root or
combination of roots and other
affixes’ (Sloat et al 2011:11).
We also saw that there are three
main types of affixes: prefixes,
suffixes and infixes.
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English Prefixes
Today, we will look at prefixes in
English:
A prefix is an affix or morpheme
that is attached to the front of front
of the root
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English Prefixes
Three main types of English
prefixes:
Relational prefixes
Negative prefixes
Numerical prefixes
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Relational Prefixes
Relational prefixes form the largest
group of prefixes in English. They are
used to denote the relationships that
occur in space or time. Some have
variant forms that are listed in the
glossary of the coursebook.
Relational prefixes include the following:
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Relational Prefixes
ab- 'away'
ad- 'toward‘
ambi- 'on both sides‘
ana- 'back'
anti- ‘opposite’
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Relational Prefixes
apo- 'away'
cata- ‘down’
cis- ‘on the side of’
con- 'together'
de- 'down'
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Relational Prefixes
dia- 'across'
dis- 'apart'
epi- 'on'
ex- 'out'
hetero- 'different'
homo- 'same'
hyper- 'over'
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Relational Prefixes
hypo- 'under'
infra- 'beneath'
iso- 'equal'
meta- 'beyond'
ob- 'toward'
para- 'beside'
per- 'through'
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Relational Prefixes
pre- 'before'
re- 'back'
se- 'apart'
sub- 'down'
syn- 'together'
tele- 'far'
tra- 'beyond'
trans- 'across'
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Relational Prefixes
Temporal Uses
From the list, we can see that most of
the relational prefixes refer to
relationships in physical space.
There are some, however, that have
their basic spatial meanings
extended to express temporal
relationships (those having to do
with time) as well.
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Relational Prefixes
For example, pre-‘before (in front of)'
also means 'before in time,' as in:
pre-colonial
preview
prepay
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Relational Prefixes
However, there are a few relational
prefixes that have only temporal
meanings:
ante- 'before (in time)'
neo- 'new' '
paleo- ‘old’,
proto- ‘first’
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Relational Prefixes
Intensive Uses
Many relational prefixes can also be
used to strengthen or intensify the
meaning of the stems to which they
are attached.
When used as intensifiers, these
prefixes mean 'very', 'strongly', or
'completely'.
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Relational Prefixes
For example:
conspicuous ‘very visible’
declare 'to make very clear'
inflammable 'very flammable'
insist 'to stand strongly (for
something)'
obdurate 'very hard'
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Relational Prefixes
In addition to the intensive prefixes,
some words and phrases with
spatial meanings are also used
intensively:
altogether
downright
far and away
outright
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Relational prefixes
perfect 'completely done'
promiscuous 'mixing very much’
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Relational Prefixes
In addition to intensive prefixes,
English has a number of words and
phrases with spatial meaning that
re used intensively. For example:
out and out
downright
far and away
through and through
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Negative Prefixes
Negative prefixes are used to
negate the meaning of the stem to
which they are attached.
Negative prefixes usually carry the
meaning ‘not’.
They can also mean ‘opposite of’,
‘lacking,’ or ‘bad.’
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Negative Prefixes
an- anaemic
dis- dishonest
in- inaccurate
non- nonexistent
un- unacceptable
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Numerical Prefixes
Most numerical concepts are
conveyed by the roots.
There are a few numerical prefixes
that are used to convey number
concepts:
di-, dich- ‘two’
poly-, ‘much, many’
hemi-, semi- ‘half’
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Base Forms Set 5
apo- ‘away’
con-, co- ‘together, with’
frag, frang ‘break’
glot, glos ‘tongue, speech’
lat ‘carry’
miso ‘hate’
mono ‘one’
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Base Forms Set 5
pel ‘push’
pend, pond ‘hang’
phyt ‘plant’
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Base Forms Set 6
ad- ‘to’
graph, gram ‘write’
in-, en- ‘not, lacking’
neo ‘new, recent’
op ‘eye, look’
ped, paed ‘child, training’
ped, pod, pus ‘foot’
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Base Forms Set 6
sen ‘old’
spec, skep, scop ‘look, see’
zo ‘animal’
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Source
Sloat, Clarence, Sharon Taylor, with
contributions by Karen Duchaj &
Nancy Sreenan. 2011. The
Structure of English Words. (Fifth
Edition). Dubuque, Iowa: Kendall
Hunt Publishing Company
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