A prefix is an affix which is placed before the stem of a word.
Adding it to the beginning of one word changes it into another word.
For example, when the prefix un- is added to the word happy, it creates the word unhappy.
Particularly in the study of languages, a prefix is also called a preformative, because
it alters the form of the words to which it is affixed.
Prefixes, like other affixes, can be either inflectional, changing the syntactic category,
or derivational, changing either the lexical category or the semantic meaning.
In English, there are no inflectional prefixes.
Prefixes, like all other affixes, are bound morphemes.
The word prefix is itself made up of the stem fix, and the prefix pre-, both of which are
derived from Latin roots.
In English List of English derivational prefixes
In English, a fairly comprehensive list, although not exhaustive, is the following.
Depending on precisely how one defines a derivational prefix, some of the neoclassical combining
forms may or may not qualify for inclusion in such a list.
This list takes the broad view that acro- and auto- count as English derivational prefixes
because they function the same way that prefixes such as over- and self- do.
As for numeral prefixes, only the most common members of that class are included here.
There is a large separate table covering them all at Numeral prefix > Table of number prefixes
in English.
Hyphenation The choice between hyphenation or solid styling
for prefixes in English is covered at Hyphen > Prefixes and suffixes.
In other languages Japanese
The most commonly used prefix in Japanese, お o-, is used as part of the honorific system
of speech.
It is a marker for politeness, showing respect for the person or thing it is affixed to.
Bantu languages In the Bantu languages of Africa, which are
agglutinating, the noun class is conveyed through prefixes, which is declined and agrees
with all of its arguments accordingly.
Example from Ganda The one, old, fat farmer goes.
Navajo Verbs in the Navajo language are formed with
a stem and multiple affixes.
For example, each verb requires one of four non-syllabic prefixes to create a verb theme.
Sunwar In the language of the Sunuwar people of Eastern
Nepal, the prefix ma- म is used to create negative verbs.
It is the only verbal prefix in the language.
Bad child!
Russian As a part of the formation of nouns, prefixes
are less common in Russian than suffixes, but alter the meaning of a word.
German In German, derivatives formed with prefixes
may be classified in two categories: those used with substantives and adjectives, and
those used with verbs.
For derivative substantives and adjectives, only two prefixes are still in use as of 1970:
un-, which expresses negation, and ur-, which means "original, primitive" in substantives,
and has an emphatic function in adjectives.
ge- expresses union or togetherness.
On the other hand, verbal prefixes are still much in use: be-, er-, ent-, ge-, ver-, zer-,
and miß-. be- expresses strengthening or generalization.
ent- expresses negation.
ge- indicates the completion of an action, and that's why its most common use has become
the forming of the past participle of verbs; ver- has an emphatic function, or it is used
to turn a substantive or an adjective into a verb.
In some cases, the prefix particle ent- can be considered the opposite of particle be-,
while er- can be considered the opposite of ver-.
The prefix er- usually indicates the successful completion of an action, and sometimes the
conclusion means death.
With fewer verbs, it indicates the beginning of and action.
The prefix er- is also used to form verbs from adjectives.
See also Affix
Suffix Bound morpheme
English prefixes List of Greek and Latin roots in English
Prefix — the mathematical notion in formal language theory
References