The Twenty Most Frequent Prefixes
Prefix
% of all
Prefixed
Words
Number of
Words
Meaning of
Prefix
Examples
un-
26
782
not, opposite of
reim-, in-, il-, ir-
14
401
11
313
again
not
dis-
7
216
not, opposite of
en-, emnon-
4
132
4
126
cause to
not
in-, imovermissubpreinterforedetranssupersemiantimidunder-
3
105
3
98
3
83
3
80
3
79
3
77
3
76
2
71
2
47
1
43
1
39
1
33
1
33
1
25
unaware, unbelievable,
unsure
redo, replay
impossible, incapable,
illogical, irregular
dishonest, disgraceful,
discover
enable, emblaze
nonstick, nonfiction,
nonexistent
inject
overtime, overeat
misunderstand, misuse
subsurface, subway
prepay, preschool
international, interact
forethought
decaffeinated, dehydrate
transatlantic
superhero, supermodel
semiannual, semicolon
antiwar, antisocial
midyear, midnight
underweight, underpaid
in, into
too much
wrongly
under
before
between
before
opposite of
across
above
half
against
middle
too little
Total Number of Prefixed Words = 2,959
from White, Sowell, and Yanagihara, 1989