1. Prefix
A prefix is a group of letters which you can add to the beginning of a root
word* to change the meaning of the word. e.g. mis + fortune = misfortune
*A root word stands on its own as a word but you can make new words
from it by adding beginnings (prefixes) and endings (suffixes).
For example, 'comfort' is a root word. By adding the prefix 'dis' and the
suffix 'able' you can make new words such as 'discomfort' and
'comfortable'.
Prefix meanings:
Every prefix has a meaning, for example:
The prefix 'un' means 'not'
The root word 'clear' means 'bright', 'free from difficulty'
un + clear = unclear which means 'not clear' or 'dim', 'difficult to see or
understand'
There are no rules to help you remember which prefix you should use,
although knowing the meaning of the prefix can help.
Here are some examples of prefixes and their meanings...
2. Prefix Meaning
mis means 'wrong' or 'badly'
e.g. 'misspelled' or misspell means 'wrongly spelled'
sub means under
e.g. 'subway' means 'a way under the ground'
pre means 'before in time', 'in front of' or 'superior'
e.g. 'pre-packed' means 'packed before'
un means not (there are also several other prefixes which mean not)
e.g. 'unhurt' means 'not hurt'
Adding prefixes to root words
1. Generally when you add a prefix to a root word* the spelling of the prefix
and the root words stays the same.
*A root word stands on its own as a word but you can make new words
from it by adding beginnings (prefixes) and endings (suffixes).
Prefix + Root word = Word
un + kind = unkind
im + mature = immature
bi + cycle = bicycle
mis + fire = misfire
in + visible = invisible
Exceptions
When you add a prefix to a root word the spelling of both usually stays the
same, although when the prefix 'all' is added to a root word the final 'l' of
3. 'all' is dropped.
all + together = altogether
all + ways = always
2. With some root words more than one type of prefix may be added to give
the word different meanings.
Prefix + Root word = Word
dis + appear = disappear - means to no longer appear, or
cease to appear
re + appear = reappear - means to appear again
3. Sometimes you can add more than one prefix to a word at the same
time.
Prefix + Prefix + Root word = Word
re + dis + Cover = Rediscover
4. You can also add a prefix to a word which already has a suffix* added to
it.
*A suffix is a group of letters that you add to the end of a root word.
Prefix + Root word + Suffix = Word
re + play + Ing = Replaying
un + want + Ed = Unwanted
4. Other prefixes
Here are some other examples of common prefixes for you to learn.
Prefix Meaning
dis means away, apart, between, utterly (when used with a negative word)
and not.
e.g. 'disarm' means to remove or take weapons away
mis means 'wrong' or 'badly'
e.g. 'misfortune' is when your are not lucky and things go wrong or badly
under means 'below' or 'beneath'
e.g. 'underground' means below or beneath the ground
over means upper, outer, over, superior or excessive
e.g. 'overweight' means too heavy or fat
re means again
e.g. 'replay' means to play something again
trans means across or through
e.g. 'transatlantic' means across the Atlantic ocean
inter means among, between or together
e.g. 'intermission' is the short period of time between the parts in a
performance or a film
super means in excess, beyond
e.g. 'supersonic' means faster or beyond the speed of sound
anti means against, in opposition to
e.g. 'anticlockwise' is opposite to the direction that the hands of a clock
move in
ante means before
e.g. 'antenatal' means before giving birth
post means after
e.g. 'postpone' means to put something off until later, or after it was
5. Prefix Meaning
originally planned
Compound words
There is another type of words called compound ,and its main
characteristic is that it can be analyses into two words, both of which can
exist independently as English Words( some compounds are made of more
than two words but we will not consider these.) As with many of the
distinctions being made in connection with stress, there are areas of
uncertainty for example. It could be argued that “ Photograph” may be
divided into two independent word,” photo” and “ graph” ;yet we usually do
not regard it as a compound, but as a simple word.(If , however , someone
drew a graph displaying numerical information about photos, this would
perhaps be called a “Photo-graph” and the word would be regarded as
compound).Compounds are written in different ways; sometimes they are
written as one word-e.g. ‘armchair’, ‘ sunflower’-sometimes with the words
separated by a hyphen-e.g. “gear-change”,” fruit-cake”-and sometimes
with two words separated by a space- e.g. “desk lamp”,” battery charger”.
In this last case there would, of course, be no indication to the foreign
learner that pair of words was to be treated as compound. There is no
clear dividing line between two-word compounds and pair of words that
simply happen to occur together quite frequently.
As far as stress is concerned, the question is quite simple. When is
primary stress placed on the first constituent word of the compound and
when on the second? Both patterns are found. A few rules can be given,
although these are not completely reliable. Words which do not receive
primary stress normally have secondary stress, although for the sake of
simplicity this is not marked here. Perhaps the most familiar type of
compound is the one which combines two nouns and which normally has
the stress on the first element, as in
“typewriter” “suitcase”
“tea-cup” “sunrise”
6. It is probably safest to assume that stress will normally in this way on
other compounds; however, a variety of compounds receive stress instead
on the second element. For example, compounds with an adjectival first
element and the –ed morpheme at the end have this pattern.<given in
spelling only
Bad-tempered
Half-timbered
Heavy-handed
Compounds in which the first element is a number in some form also tend
to have final stress.
Three-wheeler
Second-class
Five-finger
Compounds functioning as adverbs are usually final-stressed.
Head-first
North-east
Finally, compounds which function as verbs and have an adverbial first
element take final stress
Down-grade
Back-pedal
Ill-treat
Pseudo compounds:
There are some complex words made up of two bound forms which
individually are like prefixes and suffixes and it is thus difficult to analyze
7. such words as prefix plus roots or root plus suffix for example homo
phobic, micro wave tele gram. Thus it might seem appropriate to regard
such sequences as indivisible free forms. However, the accentual pattern
on such words is like that most common in compounds that are the
primary accent is usually on the first element and a full vowel is kept on
the second element. Since they have no clear root, these sequences are
here referred to as pseudo compounds. For example, although the primary
accent on telephone could be predicted by the primary accent on the
telegram and thermostat could not be so predicted. Some other examples
in pseudo compounds are Kaleidoscope, prototype, monochrome. The
accentual patterns of pseudo compounds are affected by suffixes as if they
were simple roots, thus telephone, telephonic, telephonist; photographs,
photographer, photographic.
Variable stress
It would be wrong to imagine that the stress pattern is always fixed and
unchanging in English Words. Stress position may vary for one of two
reasons; either as a result of the stress on other words occurring next to
the word in question, or because not all speakers agree on the placement
of stress in some words. The main effect is that the stress on the final
stressed compound tends to move preceding syllable if the following begins
with a strongly stressed syllable. Thus
Bad-tempered but a bad-tempered teacher
Half-timbered but a half-timbered house
Heavy-handed but a heavy-handed sentence
The second is not a serious problem. But is one that foreign learners
should be aware of. A well known example is “controversy” which is
pronounced by some speakers as and by others as it
would be quite wrong to say that one was correct and one incorrect. Other
8. examples of different possibilities are “ice-cream”
“kilometer”
and “formidable”
It is very important to note how prefixes are stress less. It is common
practice among native speakers that they do not lay stress on the prefixes.
How interesting it is to go through examples of such cases as in simple
words like :
Im-Possible, it surely illustrates how head of the word im is left without
any stress while in case of possible the stress is produced. This effect on
stress does not have the comparative regularity independence and
predictability of suffixes, and there is no prefix of one or two syllables that
always carries primary stress. Consequently, the best treatment seems to
be saying that stress in words with prefixes is governed by the same rules
as those for words without prefixes.
Conclusion:
So it is evident from the above discussion that there are not any steadfast
rules for the stress in prefixes. Prefixes though play an important rule in
the meaning and formation of the words in English language but it is hard
to show the stress position in the words. In Prefixes it is observed that the
root word is stressed leaving prefix behind. This shows that the second
word is mostly stressed in prefixes. Even in compound words it is seen
that the stress is not on the first word it is on the second word.
References
Roach Peter, English Phonetics and phonology Cambridge
University Press UK.
Data retrieved on 15-09-2008, www. English Vocabulary
Prefixes EnglishClub_com.htm
