Commonly used Prefixes in English

Prefixes are letters or groups of letters added to the beginning of a word to make a new word. E.g. - 'ex-', 'a-', 'omni-'.

Let's begin with the list of most popular prefixes.

1. a- / anti-: not, opposite; e.g.- atheist, antibody

 2. after-: following something; e.g. - afterbirth, afterlife

 3. auto-: by oneself; e.g. - automatic, autocrat

4. bi-: two; e.g., binary, bilingual

5. back-: behind; e.g.- background

 6. co-, com-, cor-: together; e.g. - copilot, correlate, comrade

7. dis-: negative; e.g.- disapprove, dissociate

 8. down-: from higher to lower; e.g. - downpour

 9. ex-: past; e.g. - ex-wife

 10. fore-: before; e.g. - forefront

11. homo-: same; e.g. - homogeneous

12. hyper-: more; e.g. - hyperactive

 13. inter-: between; e.g. - interstate

 14. mid-: middle; e.g. - midlife

15. micro-/mini-: micro-organisms, minivan

 16. non-: not; non-violence

 17. over-: excess; overpower

18. poly-: many; polygon

 19. post-: after; postpone

 20. re-: again; redo, repeat

To find out how prefixes are used to create new words, check out this link.