Advanced English Grammar

Latin Prefixes

Searching for Latin prefixes?

You'll find the most common prefixes from the Latin Language below along with their meanings and an example of how they are used in English words.

What's true about the Greek prefixes and stated on the page concerning them, holds true for Latin as well.

In case you missed the page on Greek prefixes I'll say it again here. Learning the prefixes, suffixes and roots found in this site will help you with your knowledge of the English Language.

Why? How?
It's because many words in English-- that's many, many words in English -- are made up of Latin prefixes or suffixes added to a root, or root word.

So, once again, learning Latin prefixes will help you in your study of the English Language.

Latin Prefixes Meanings Usage

ab, abs	away, away from	abnormal, abstract
ad	to, towards, at	adhere, admire, admit
am	around	amputate
ambi	both	ambivalent, ambidextrous
ante	before	antediluvian, antecedent
bi	two	bifocals, bicameral
circum	around	circumnavigate, circumcise
co com con col	with, together	co-worker compress conjoin collate
contra	against	contradict
de	down, away from	decrease, descend
dis	away	distract
ef ex	out out of	effluent exit
endo	within	indoctrinate
epi	on, upon	epicenter
extra	beyond	extraterrestrial
il in im ir	against, opposite	illegitimate insufficient impolite irregular
infra	below	infrared
inter	between	intercollegiate
intro	within	introspection
ob	against	object, obstruct
non	not	nonlethal
per	through	perfect
post	after, behind	post-modern, post script PS
pre	before	prenatal, prelude
re	back, again	rewind, retreat
retro	backward	retrofit, retrospect
sin	without	sincere
semi	half	semisphere
sub	under, below	substandard, subpar
super	above, over	superman, supermarket
trans	across	transcontinental
ultra	beyond, above	ultrathin, ultraviolet

To learn more about prefixes in general and Latin prefixes in particular, just click on the previous link.

Follow @English2U