Lists of common prefixes in English

Lists of common prefixes in English

	Prefix	Meaning	Example
Prefixes that means “no” or “not”	in-, il-, im-, ir-	not	Insecure, illegal, immoral, irresponsible
	non-	not	nonviolent, non-poisonous
	un-	not	unhappy, unkind
	dis-	not, opposite of, undo	displease, disservice, disconnect
	mis-	wrong, bad	mistreat, mistake
	anti-	against	antivirus, antithesis, anti-war
	contra-	against	contradict, contrary
Prefixes that relate to time	ex-	former	ex-boss, ex-spouse
	post-	after	posttest, posterior
	pre-	before	predict, precede
	re-	again	repeat, recycle
Prefixes that show placement	ab-	away, away from	absent, abnormal
	co-, col-, com-	together with	cooperate, colleague, community
	de-	down form, away	descend, depart
	dis-	away	displace, disappear
	ex-	out	exit, export, ecterior
	in-	in	inside, interior, inhale
	pro-	forward, ahead	progress, promote
	re-	back	return, revert, report
	tele-	far, distant	television, telepathy
	trans-	across	transport, transfer
Prefixes that indicate how many or how much	extra-	beyond, outside	extraordinary, extracurricular,
	micro-	small	microscope, micro-organisms
	semi-	half	semiconscious, semi-formal
	super-	over, above	supervisor, superlative
Prefixes that show number of quantity	uni-,	one	united, uniform,
	dec-, deci-	ten	decimal, decade, decimate
	cent-	hundred	century, cent
	mill-, kilo-	thousand	millennium, kilowatts

Remember that just because a word begins with the same letters as a prefix, it does not necessarily contain a prefix. The prefix pre means “before”, as in predict and prehistoric. However, the word “pressure” also begins with the letters “pre”, but it has no connection with the prefix pre.

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