Vocabulary 18 - Prefixes 2

If you check up the meanings of the words you will realise that the prefixes themselves lend a meaning to the new word. For instance, the prefix bio refers to life or living matter and biosphere is the part of the Earth occupied by living things. Similarly, the prefix neo means new or recent and neonatal pertains to a new born child. Generally, the prefixes maintain their meanings when they are attached to different root words and modify the meaning of the root word.

Prefixes are generally not words by themselves but lend a lot of meaning when they are added to other root words. While there are no definite rules to follow for the use of prefixes it is useful to know what the prefixes stand for.

Prefixes help to create new words and a knowledge of them will increase your vocabulary. Using prefixes will give you access to new words and the opportunity to make your language more versatile and inventive. In our earlier quizzes you have been exposed to a variety of prefixes and learnt their usage and because of them learnt many new words. In the quiz that follows you will learn more prefixes and therefore many more new words.