Word Parts: Prefixes, Roots, & Suffixes
Suppose that you come across the following sentence in a literature textbook:
Ralph Waldo Emerson led a movement of nonconformist thinkers.
If you did not know the meaning of nonconformist, how could you determine it? An easy and fast alternative to looking in the dictionary is to break the word into parts and analyze the meaning of each part. Many words in the English language are made up of word parts called prefixes, roots, and suffixes. These word parts have specific meanings that, when added together, can help you determine the meaning of the word as a whole.
Prefix + Root + Suffix = New Word
Non + conform + -ist = nonconformist
MEANING: not + go along + one who does = someone who does not go along with others
Knowing the meanings of the most common word parts gives you the building blocks for hundreds of words in the English language. Before you use word parts there are a few things you need to know.
- In most cases, a word is built upon at least one root.
- Words can have more than one prefix, root, or suffix.
- Words can be made up of two or more roots (geo/logy).
- Some words have two prefixes (in/sub/ordination).
- Some words have two suffixes (beauti/ful/ly).
- Words do not always have a prefix and a suffix.
- Some words have neither a prefix nor a suffix (read).
- Others have a suffix but no prefix (reading/ing).
- Others have a prefix but no suffix (pre/read).
- The spelling of roots may change as they are combined with suffixes.
- Different prefixes, roots, or suffixes may have the same meaning.
- For example, the prefixes bi-, di-, and duo- all mean “two.”
- Sometimes you may identify a group of letters as a prefix or root but find that it does not carry the meaning of that prefix or root.
- For example, the letters mis in missile are part of the root and are not the prefix mis-, which means “wrong; bad.”
Prefixes
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 the most frequently used prefixes that account for 97% of prefixed words in printed English.
| Prefix | Meaning | Example |
| dis- | opposite | defrost |
| in-, im-, il-, ir- | not | injustice, impossible |
| re- | again | return |
| un- | not | unfriendly |
Roots
Word roots are the words from other languages that are the origin of many English words. About 60% of all English words have Latin or Greek origins. Roots give words their fixed meaning. Prefixes and suffixes can then be attached to the roots to form new words.
| Root | Meaning | Example |
| bio | life | biology, biography |
| chron | time | chronology, sychronize |
| fer | carry | transfer, inference |
| geo | earth | geography, geode |
| nom | name | nominate, nomenclature |
| tele | distant | telegraph, telepathy |
Suffixes
A group of letters with a special meaning appearing at the end of a word is called a suffix. Here is a list of 6 important suffixes. Following is a list of the 6 most frequently used suffixes that account for 97% of prefixed words in printed English.
| Suffix | Meaning | Example |
| -ed | past-tense verbs | hopped |
| -ing | verb form/present participle | running |
| -ly | characteristic of | quickly |
| -s, -es | more than one | books, boxes |
| -able, -ible | able to be | manageable, defensible |
| -ful | full of | wishful |
Works Cited
Further explanation and activities for Learning Word Parts: Roots, Prefixes, and Suffixes can be found in the following texts:
- Flemming, Loraine. Reading for Results, 12th ed. Boston: Wadsworth, 2014. (See pages 77-83, 108-114)
- Flemming, Loraine. Reading Keys, 3rd ed. Boston: Wadsworth, 2011. (See pages 63-74)
- McWhorter, Kathleen T. Reading Across the Disciplines: College Reading and Beyond, 5th ed. San Francisco: Pearson Education, 2009. (See pages 57-69)
Attribution
This resource taken from Word Parts: Prefixes, Roots, & Suffixes by Monterey Peninsula College Reading Center for use in REA091_M