Word families

  • many words are formed from the base words and form groups of related words:
    • use - disuse - unusable - misuse - useful - useless etc.
  • word families are formed by various prefixes or suffixes

Prefixes

  • prefixes meaning NOT: un-, in-, im-, il-, ir-, non- - there are some examples: unable, inconvenient, impossible, illegal, irresponsible, non-smoking
  • number prefixes: mono-, bi-, tri-, multi-, poly- - some examples: bicycle, triangle, polygon
  • position/direction prefixes: sub-, under- - some examples: submarine, underground,trans-(across) - transatlantic, pre-(before) - preschool education

Suffixes

  • suffixes have the effect of changing words and making them a different part of speech
  • suffix -ly changes an adjective into an adverb
  • suffix -ness makes a noun
  • suffixes -fy, -ize make verbs

You can find other suffixes and prefixes in dictionaries.