Prefix-Suffix-Root List by Grade Level (Generally, prefixes and suffixes change the meanings of roots, but it is usually the suffix that denotes the part of speech.) 1 st Grade Prefix Suffix Definition Examples Origin Additional -s,-es plural, more than one hats, pigs, boxes, wishes -ing action/ process helping, skipping, running, seeing, thinking 1 Present participle of verb -ed past tense jumped, helped Past tense verb 2 nd Grade (Please review affixes from prior grade.) Prefix Suffix Definition Examples Origin Additional un- not/ opposite unlock, unsafe re- again/ back reread, rewrite, return dis- not/ opposite of dislike, distrust -er person connected with/ comparative degree teacher, writer, baker, bigger, colder, taller -est superlative degree biggest, coldest, tallest Usually an adjective 3rd Grade (Please review affixes from prior grades.) Prefix Suffix Definition Examples Origin Additional dis- not/ opposite of dislike, distrust in- not inactive, insane,
inexpensive -ful full of beautiful, painful Usually an adjective -less without careless, helpless -y characterized by/ like cloudy, fishy -ly characteristic of badly, friendly, quickly 2 Usually an adverb 4 th Grade (Please review affixes from prior grades.) Prefix Suffix Definition Examples Origin Additional under- too little/ below underfed, underground over- too much/ above overdone, overhead non- not nonfat, nonsense pre- before preplan, pretest bi- two bicycle, binocular tri- three tricycle, triangle / quad- four quadrilateral, quadrant oct- eight octagon, octopus / -ion, ation sion, -tion act of/ state of/ result of attention, vision, invitation Noun (See 6 th grade for explanation) -ness condition/ state of darkness, fairness -ly characteristic of badly, friendly, quickly -ment act/ process enjoyment, replacement -er, -or one who/ that which baker, boxer, conductor, survivor Usually an adverb Use or with roots for nouns (inventor, elevator) Use er with roots (heater, swimmer)
5 th Grade (Please review affixes from prior grades.) Prefix Suffix Root Definition Examples Origin Additional semi- half semicircle, semicolon super- above/ on top superfine, of/ beyond superhuman, supersonic multi- many/ much multicolor, multifamily poly- many/ much polygon, polysyllable tele- distant/far Television, telephone mis- bad or badly/ wrong or wrongly misbehave, misread, misspell inter- between intercept, interview, interstate mid- middle midnight, midweek sub- under, beneath, below/ secondary subway, subsoil, substitute deca- deci- ten decathlon, decade, decimal, decimeter kilo- 1,000 kilogram, kilowatt milli- mille- 1,000 millennium, millimeter / 3
centi- 100 centimeter, centipede -able, -ible can be done enjoyable, sensible, likable -ian, -an -ship -ist -logy, -ology -ism -ence, -ance one having a certain skill/ relating to/ belonging to condition of/ skill one who does a specific action science of/ study of act/ belief/ practice of act/ condition of electrician, magician, American, suburban championship, friendship, hardship, leadership -able ending words have roots that can stand alone. enjoyable -ible ending words have roots that can not stand alone. sensible artist, tourist / biology, chronology patriotism, idealism, absenteeism, persistence, excellence, assistance, importance / -ence and ance sound alike because of the schwa. ence is used somewhat more often than ance. -ess feminine actress, lioness / 4
max(i) great maximum, maximize meter, metr measure diameter, odometer, metric, perimeter photo light photograph, telephoto, photocopy port to carry portable, transport phobia, irrational fear aquaphobia, phobic, or hatred/ one claustrophobic phobe who fears/ technophobe hates rupt break/ burst bankrupt, rupture, disruptive scrib, script to write describe, manuscript gram, graph written/ drawn autograph, paragraph, telegram dict to say/ tell diction, dictator ject to throw inject, objection There are names for more than 500 phobias, most of which come from the field of medicine. FYI: Erupt means to explode. (The volcano erupted.) Irrupt means to rush or burst in. (The police irrupted into the hideout.) Verbs usually use scribe, as in prescribe; nouns usually use script, as in prescription. 5
spect, spec to see/ watch/ observe 6 prospect, respect, specimen 6 th Grade (Please review affixes and roots from prior grades.) Prefix Suffix Root Definition Examples Origin Additional en-, em- to cause to be/ to put into or onto/ to go into or onto encounter, enable, employ, embark, encircle fore- before/ earlier forearm, foreword de- reduce down/ defeat, deform, away from decrease trans- across/ change/ transformation, through transportation, anti- di-, dia- opposite/ against two/ through/ across transfer antibiotic, antifreeze digraph, dialogue, diagonal ex- out of/ away from extract, exhale, extend auto- self autograph, automatic in- (il-, im-, ir-) not inability, impatient, irregular, illegal / il- used before roots beginning with l illegible im- used before roots beginning with b, m, p immature, imbalance, impatient
in- (il-, im-, ir-) in/ on/ toward infer, illustrate, improve, irrigate bio- life biography, biological mini- small miniature, minimum micro- small/ minute microbiology, microscope uni- one/ single unicorn, unicycle, uniform -en made of/ to wooden, make dampen, tighten -dom condition of boredom, freedom, kingdom -ity state of/ quality prosperity, of equality -al, -ial related to/ colonial, characterized biennial, dental, by betrayal -ion, -ation sion, -tion -ish act of/ state of/ result of relating to/ characteristic 7 tension, attention, elevation, union ir- used before roots beginning with r irregular Same prefix usage is applied as above From the word miniature Modern generations shortened miniature to mini-. Usually an adjective The real suffix is ion. Putting s or t in front of ion is simply determined by the spelling of the root. childish, foolish Usually an adjective
-ent, -ant -ent, -ant -hood of an action/ condition causing a specific action the state/ the condition/ the quality 8 student, contestant, immigrant obedient, absorbent, abundant, elegant boyhood, likelihood aqua water aquarium, aquamarine act put in motion/ action, react, process of doing transact mit to send emit, transmit anni, annu, enni year anniversary, semiannual, millennium arch chief/ ruler archenemy, matriarch duct, duc lead induce, conduct geo earth/ ground/ geography, soil geology man hand manicure, manually Often a noun The suffix ant often indicates a person noun. Often an adjective -ent and ant sound alike because of the schwa. ent is used somewhat more often than ant. History of the suffix hood Old English: -had Middle English: - hod Modern English: -hood
nym, onym name/ word antonym, synonym phon voice/ sound telephone, symphony therm heat thermometer, thermostat tox poison toxic, toxicology scope to watch/ see horoscope, microscope, telescope 7 th Grade (Please review affixes and roots from prior grades.) Prefix Suffix Root Definition Examples Origin Additional ante- in front of/ before 9 antecedent, antebellum ab- from/ away absent, absorb, abnormal a- on/ in/ to across, aboard, aside a- without/ not atypical, amoral, asocial co-, con-, com- together/ with cooperate, concede, combine pro- forward/ proceed, before/ in pronoun, support of prohibit Fun information antepenultimate means next to the next to the last this word can usually be found on the SAT. / / / Concrete meaning to harden or to grow together Some words with pro- as a prefix are often hyphenated, so be sure to check the dictionary.
intra- within intranet, intramural mega- great/ huge megabyte, megaphone post- after/ following postpone, postwar -ous, full of/ adventurous, -ious, characterized nervous, -eous by mysterious, courteous Usually an adjective -ive, -itive, -ative -ic -ize inclined/ tending toward an action relating to/ characterized by to make/ to cause to become 10 festive, talkative, active, sensitive energetic, historic fertilize, criticize, apologize / / Words that end with de (intrude) change the de to s then add ive (intrusive). Words that end with silent e (create) drop the e then add ive (creative). Usually an adjective Usually a verb -fy, -ify to make satisfy, magnify Usually a verb -age result of an action/ collection manage, drainage, acreage -some characterized by a specified quality, condition, or action awesome, lonesome chron time chronology, Primarily used with base words.
synchronize temp time temporary, temperature aer, aero air aerial, aerospace cede, ceed to go/ yield/ surrender proceed, secede, precede, cept, ceive to take/ catch/ seize/ hold/ receive fract, frag to break fracture, fraction, fragment 11 concede accept, deceive Additional roots with same definition: cap (captive) ceit (conceit) cep (concept) cip (municipal) gen race, kind, or gender, genetics, species/ birth genesis grat thanks/ congratulations, pleasing gratify liber free liberty, liberate leg, lect, lig law/ to choose/ to pick/ to read/ to speak legend, legal, intelligent, elect, lecture mater, matr, matri mother maternal, matrimony, matriarch pater, patr father paternal, patriot mot, mob to move motivate, mobilize opt eye/ to make a optometry, choice optic, optional ped, pod foot pedal, The roots lect, lect, and lig are related to the combining form logos, meaning speech or word.
pedestrian, tripod ped child pediatrician urb city urban, suburban Exurb: a modern word meaning large cities that directly surround a major city (Arlington is an exurb of Dallas.) pop people population, popular tract to draw/ pull attract, distract, retract form to shape conform, reform, transform pend to hang/ weigh suspend, pendulum 8 th Grade (Please review affixes and roots from prior grades.) Prefix Suffix Root Definition Examples Origin Additional hyper- over/ above/ excessive hyperactive, hypercritical hypo-, hyp- below/ less hypothermia, than normal hypnosis omni- all omnipresent, omniscient homo- same homogeneous, homonym hetero- different/ other heterochromatic, heterogeneous 12 Heteronyms: words with the same spelling, but different meanings (dove the bird;
ultra- beyond in degree/ extreme 13 ultramarine, ultraviolet -cide kill germicide, pesticide -ery relating to/ quality/ place where -ary -ium -tude relating to/ place where/ one who imagery, pottery, bakery dictionary, infirmary cautionary, dietary, missionary chemical element/ group helium, aquarium condition/ altitude, state/ quality of gratitude aud to hear/ listen audible, audition cred to believe credit, incredible archae, arche, primitive/ archaeologist, archi ancient archives, achetype belli war belligerent, bellicose claim, clam to declare/ call exclaim, out/ cry out clamorous crat, cracy rule/ strength/ democrat, power aristocracy hemo, hema blood hematology, hemophilia luna moon lunar, lunatic mar sea maritime, submarine dove did dive) Noun/ adjective
mort death mortuary, mortality path feeling/ apathetic, suffering/ disease pathology pel to drive/ push expel, propeller struc, struct to build construct, instructor vis, vid to see vision, evidence voc, voke to call advocate, revoke See Affix Matrix for the root struct on final page of this document. cogn to know cognition, recognize loc, loqu to speak/ talk/ say 14 colloquial, ventriloquist, loquacious 9 th Grade (Please review affixes and roots from prior grades.) Prefix Suffix Root Definition Examples Origin Additional bene well/ good benediction, beneficial cardi heart cardiac, cardiology ego self egocentric, egoism don, donat give/ gift donate, donation luc, lum light translucent, illuminate mania madness/ frenzy/ abnormal maniac, kleptomania
desire/ obsession nate, nat born native, innate neg no/ deny negative, negate neo new neonatal nov new novice phys nature physics, physical psych mind/ soul psychic, psychopath reg guide/ rule regime, regent sci to know/ learn science, conscience sol alone solitary, soliloquy tact, tang to touch contact, tangible terr land terrain, territory vac empty vacate, evacuate ver, veri true/ genuine verdict, veritable 15
References Ebbers, Susan M. Vocabulary Through Morphemes. Longmont, CO: Sopris West. 2003. Henry, Marcia K. Unlocking Literacy. Baltimore: Paul H. Brookes Publishing. 2003. Terban, Marvin. Building Your Vocabulary. New York: Scholastic Inc. 2002. The American Heritage High School Dictionary. Fourth Edition. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. 2002 Affix Matrix re de de in ob sub super infra con struct ive or ion ure s ed ing al ly s s ism ist s ed ing ly Add one or more of the above affixes to the root struct. Example: destructively (Try to create at least 60 words.) 16