Roots, Prefixes and Suffixes
Roots
Root
Meaning
Examples
audi
hearing
audience, audition
auto
self
automatic, autonomous
bio
life
biology, biography
capit
head
capital, captain
cid
kill
suicide, homicide
dict
say, words
dictionary, dictator
fac / fact
make, do
factory, artefact
fer
carry
ferry, transfer
graph
writing, drawing
biography, graphic
leg
reading
legible, legend
ling
language, tongue
linguistics, bilingual
man
hand
manufacture, manicure
miss / mit
send
mission, missile
mort
death
mortal, mortuary
path
suffer, disease
pathology, pathetic
ped / pod
foot
pedestrian, podiatrist
photo
light
photograph, photocopy
port
carry
transport, porter
psych
mind
psychology, psychiatrist
spec
look
spectator, inspect
tele
far
telephone, telescope
terr
land
territory, extraterrestrial
ven
come
convention, venue
vis / vid
seeing
vision, video
vit / viv
life
vivid, vitality
Prefixes related to numbers
Prefix
Meaning
Examples
uni– / mono–
one
unique, monopoly
bi– / di–
two
bicycle, divide
tri–
three
triangle, tripod
quar– / quad–
four
quarter, quadrant
quin– / pent–
five
quintet, pentagon
sex– / hex–
six
sextuplet, hexagon
sept–
seven
septuplet
oct–
eight
octagon, octave
non–
nine
nonagenarian
dec–
ten
decade, decimal
cent–
one hundred
century, centipede
mil–
one thousand
millennium, millimetre
multi–
many
multiply, multitude
You will notice that the prefixes sept–, oct–, non–, and dec– mean seven,eight, nine,
and ten. However, the months September, October, November, and December
are not the seventh, eighth, ninth, and tenth months of the year. What is happening
here? Well, the calendar we use in English is based on the Roman calendar, which
actually started in March. Under the Roman system, September really was the seventh
month of the year.
Prefixes with general meanings
Prefix
Meaning
Examples
anti–
against
antisocial, antibiotic
bene–
good
benefit, benevolent
circum–
around
circumference, circumstance
col– / com– / con– /cor–
together
collaborate, company, conversation
contra– / contro–
against
contradict, controversial
de–
down
decline, descend
dis–
not
disappointed, dishonest
e– / ex–
out
emigrate, expel
ill– / im– / in– / ir–
not
illegal, impossible, incomplete, irresponsible
in–
in
input, income
inter–
between
international, interpret
mal–
bad
malady, malignant
micro–
small
microchip, microscope
mis–
wrong
misunderstand, mispronounce
neo–
new
neonatal, neoclassical
post–
after
postwar, postscript
pre–
before
predict, previous
pro–
forward
progress, procession
re–
back
return, recede
re–
again
repeat, rewrite
sub–
below
submarine, subway
super–
above
superior, superfluous
trans–
across
translate, transplant
un–
not
unhappy, uncomfortable