Prefix

From Wikipedia, a free encyclopedia written in simple English for easy reading.

A prefix is a part of a word. It is put at the start of another word to make a different meaning. It can also mean a number that is put in at the start to show which number something is in a group.

  • Grandfather means your parent's father.
  • Wineglass is a glass that you put wine in.

Often people want to use a prefix to mean not. There are many prefixes that mean not.

  • Unnatural means not natural.
  • Apolitical means not political.
  • Nonviolent means not violent.

Scientists and doctors use prefixes in many words.

  • Hepato- is a prefix that means liver. So hepatocellular means 'about liver cells'.
  • Hydro- is a prefix that means water. So Hydroelectric dams are dams that make electricity from the flow of water.
  • 'Pre- or Ante- are prefixes that means before. Prenatal diagnostics is the dignostics done before the bith of a baby.
  • 'Post- is a prefix that means after. Post-traumatic experience would be an experience that was made after a trauma.

Sometimes people make up words by adding a prefix. These words are not in a dictionary. But if people use these words enough, sometimes they go into dictionaries. For example, we can make the word unsimple, which splits up into not simple. This is not a word in a dictionary.

Compare to suffix. Suffixes are letters put at the end of a word to change its meaning.

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