Chapter 5
Latin prefixes
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I'm sure you've noticed that there are many words in Modern English that have obviously related meanings and which are clearly the same root word with different prefixes on them. One example is include and exclude, which clearly have opposite meanings to each other, and which are both just clude with different prefixes. (There are other words in this set too: preclude, transclude, seclude, occlude.) Another example is reduce, deduce, produce.
A summary of Latin-derived prefixes
| Modern English | Latin | |
|---|---|---|
| in- | in- | 'in' |
| ex- | ex- | 'out', 'out of' |
| intra-, intro- | intra- | 'within', 'inside'; similar to in- |
| extra-, extro- | extra- | 'outside'; similar to ex- |
| re- | re- | 'again', 'back', 'against' |
| super- | super- | 'above', 'over', 'on top of', 'beyond' |
| sub- | sub- | 'under', 'beneath' |
| inter- | inter- | 'between', 'among' |
| cis- | cis- | 'on this side' |
| trans- | trans- | 'across', 'beyond', 'through' |
| ultra- | ultra- | 'beyond', 'extremely' |
| com-, co- | com-, cum | 'with', 'together' |
| dis- | dis- | 'not', 'lack of', or 'opposite of', or 'apart', 'away' |
| pro- | pro- | 'forward' or 'beforehand' or 'in place of' |
| retro- | retro- | 'backwards', 'behind', 'formerly' |
| ad- | ad- | 'to', 'towards' |
| contra- | contra- | 'against', 'in opposition to' |
| pre- | prae- | 'before' |
| post- | post- | 'after' |
| per- | ||
| se- | ||
| ob- |