List of English prefixes

List of English prefixes

Prefix	Meaning	Example
A-/an-	lacking in, lack of	asexual, anemic
A-	verb > predicative adjective with progressive aspect	afloat, atremble
Ante-	before	antebellum, antediluvian
Anti-	against	anti-war, antivirus, anti-human
Arch-	supreme, highest, worst	arch-rival, archangel
Be-	equipped with, covered with, beset with (pejorative or facetious)	bedeviled, becalm, bedazzle, bewitch
Co-	joint, with, accompanying	co-worker, coordinator, cooperation
Counter-	against, in opposition to	counteract, counterpart
De-	reverse action, get rid of	de-emphasise
Dis-	not, opposite of	disloyal, disagree
Dis-	reverse action, get rid of	disconnect, disinformation
En-/em-	to make into, to put into, to get into	enmesh, empower
Ex-	former	ex-husband, ex-boss, ex-colleague
Fore-	before	forearm, forerunner
In-/il-/im-/ir-	not, opposite of	inexact, irregular
Inter-	between, among	interstate, interact
Mal-	bad(ly)	malnourish
Mid-	middle	midlife
Mini-	small	minimarket, mini-room
Mis-	wrong, astray	misinformation, misguide
Out-	better, faster, longer, beyond	outreach, outcome
Over-	too much	overreact, overact
Pan-	all, worldwide	pan-African
Post-	after	post-election, post-graduation
Pre-	before	pre-election, pre-enter
Pro-	for, on the side of	pro-life
Re-	again, back	rerun
Self-	self	self-sufficient
Step-	family relation by remarriage	stepbrother
Trans-	across, from one place to another	transatlantic
Twi-	two	twibill, twilight
Ultra-	beyond, extremely	ultraviolet, ultramagnetic
Un-	not, opposite of	unnecessary, unequal
Un-	reverse action, deprive of, release from	undo, untie
Under-	below, beneath, lower in grade/dignity, lesser, insufficient	underachieve, underground, underpass
Up-		upgrade
Vice-	deputy	vice-president, vice-principal
With-	against	withstand
Afro-	relating to Africa	Afro-American
Ambi-	both	ambitendency
Amphi-	two, both, on both sides	amphiaster, amphitheater, amphibian
An-, a-	not, without	anemic, asymmetric
Ana-/an-	up, against	anacardiaceous, anode
Anglo-	relating to England	Anglo-Norman
Ante-	before	antenatal
Anti-	opposite	anti-clockwise
Apo-	away, different from	apomorphine
Astro-	star	astrobiology
Auto-	self	autobiography, automatic
Bi-	two	bicycle
Bio-	biological	biodegrade
Circum-	around	circumnavigate
Cis-	on this side of	cislunar
Con-/com-/col-/cor-/co-	together or with	confederation, commingle, colleague, correlation, cohabit
Contra-	opposite	contradict
Cryo-	ice	cryogenics
Crypto-	hidden, secret	cryptography
De-	down	depress
Demi-	half	demigod
Demo-	people	demography
Di-	two	dioxide
Dis-, di-, dif-	apart	differ, dissect
Down-	to make something lesser, lower or worse	downgrade
Du-/duo-	two	duet
Eco-	ecological	ecosystem
Electro-	electric, electricity	electro-analysis
Epi-	upon, at, close upon, in addition	epidermis
Euro-	European	Eurocentric
Ex-, e-, ef-	out of	export
Extra-	outside	extracurricular
Fin-	kinship	affinity
Franco-	French, France	Francophile
Geo-	relating to the earth or its surface	geography
Hetero-	different	heterosexual
Hemi-	half	hemimorphic
Homo-	same	homosexual
Hydro-	relating to water, or using water	hydroelectricity
Hyper-	above, over	hyperthermia
Hypo-	under or below something, low	hypothermia
Ideo-	image, idea	ideograph
Idio-	individual, personal, unique	idiolect
In-	in, into	insert
Indo-	relating to the Indian subcontinent	Indo-European
Infra-	below, beneath	infrared
Inter-	among, between	intercede
Intra-	inside, within	intravenous
Iso-	equal	isochromatic
Macr(o)-	long	macrobiotic
Maxi-	very long, very large	maxi-skirt
Mega-, megalo-	great, large	megastar, megalopolis
Meta-	after, along with, beyond, among, behind	meta-theory
Micro-	small	microbacillus
Midi-	medium-sized	midi-length
Mon(o)-	sole, only	monogamy
Multi-	many	multi-storey
Neo-	new	neolithic
Non-	not	nonexistent
Omni-	all	omnipotent, omnipresent
Paleo-	old	paleolithic
Para-	beside, beyond	parallel
Ped-/pod-	foot	pedestrian, podiatrist
Per-	through, completely, wrongly, exceedingly	permeate, permute
Peri-	around	periphrase
Photo-	light, photography, photograph	photoelectric
Poly-	many	polygon
Post-	after	postpone
Pre-	before	predict
Preter-	beyond, past, more than	preternatural
Pro-	substitute, deputy	proconsul
Pro-	before	procambium
Pros-	toward	prosthesis
Proto-	first, original	protoplasm, prototype
Pseudo-	false, imitation	pseudonym
Pyro-	fire	pyrokinetic
Quasi-	partly, almost, appearing to be but not really	quasi-religious
Retro-	backwards	retrograde
Semi-	half	semicircle
Socio-	society, social, sociological	sociopath
Sub-, su-, suc-, suf-, sug-, sum-, sup-, sur-, sus-	below, under	submerge, success, support, surreptitious, suspect, sustain
Super-	above, over	supervisor
Supra-	above, over	suprarenal
Sur-	above, over	surname, surreal, surrender
Syn-, sy-, syl-, sym-, sys-	together, with	synthesis, symbol, syllable, system
Tele-	at a distance	television
Trans-	across	transverse
Tri-	three	tricycle
Ultra-	beyond	ultraviolet
Uni-	one	unicycle
Up-	to make something greater, higher, or better	upgrade