A prefix added to the beginning of base word changes the meaning of the word. ex. the prefix dis- meaning "opposite of, lack of" + the base word respect = disrespect, meaning "lack of respect"
*Note: if the prefix ends with the same letter as the base word, those letters are doubled ex. illegible, misspell
How can learning about prefixes and suffixes help you? What can you do when you run into a word that you don’t know? One thing that may help is to analyze the word, looking for groups of letters that have special meanings.
A group of letters with a special meaning appearing at the end of a word is called a suffix.
When a group of letters having a special meaning appears at the beginning of a word, we call that group of letters a prefix. Following is a list of 10 prefixes all dealing with counting.
Prefix Meaning Example uni- one unicycle mono- one monologue auto- self autobiography duo- two duodecimal bi- two bifocal tri three tripod penta- five pentagon hexa- six hexadecimal poly -many polygon multi- many multicolored