Prefixes are placed before the words to modify their meanings; like suffixes, they are

groups of letters that rarely serve a purpose unless attached to a word. Here is a list of
commonly used prefixes to give you an idea of how to identify them.

Prefix Meaning Examples

-a On/in/out/from Away, aboard, arise, alight

-al all Alone, already

-be by Below, before

-by Be/on the side Bypass, byword

-for through forget, forgive

-fore before Forecast, foresee

-gain against Gainsay

-in in Inside, income

-mis wrong Mislead, mistake

-over Above/beyond overflow, overcharge

-out out Outside, outcome

-to this Today, tonight

-un Not/to reverse an action Unkind, untie

-under below Underground, undersell

-with Against/back Withdraw, withhold

-wel In good condition Welcome, welfare

Suffixes are placed after words to modify their meanings; like prefixes, they are groups of
letters that rarely serve a purpose unless attached to a word. Here is a list of some of
them to give you an idea of how to identify suffixes.
 Suffix Meaning Examples

-able/-ible capable of portable, legible

-ac/-ic like/related to cardiac, Nordic

-acy state/quality of being privacy, legitimacy

-acious/-icious full of gracious, malicious

-al related to logical, philosophical

-ance/-ence state/quality of being maintenance, permanence

-dom state/quality of being freedom, kingdom

mountaineer, writer,
-eer/-er/-or person who
counsellor

-escent becoming, to be adolescent, fluorescent

-esque like/reminiscent of picturesque, Kafkaesque

-fy to make magnify, electrify

-iferous containing, yielding vociferous, carboniferous

-ise make, become civilise, terrorise

-ish having qualities of hellish, fiendish

-ism doctrine, belief, practice favouritism, communism

-ist person who chemist, florist

-ity state/quality of being ingenuity, oddity

-less without brainless, endless

state/quality of being, result enjoyment, embankment,

-ment
of action, process abridgement
 -ness state of being thinness, loneliness

-oid like celluloid, ovoid

-ose full of adipose, verbose

-osis condition hypnosis, psychosis

-ous full of illustrious, nauseous

-ship position held friendship, membership

-sion/-tion state/quality of being torsion, transition

-tude state/quality of being fortitude, certitude

-y characterised by funny, greedy