In this story, we will get to know about prefixes with examples.
A prefix is a one- to three-syllable affix that is used to modify the meaning of a base word.
Example
The prefix 'semi-' is added to words like 'final' or 'liquid' to create new words like 'semi-final' and 'semi-liquid'.
No matter what base word they are linked to, prefixes always have the same meaning.
The prefix 'im-' always means “not”. When it is used in 'impossible', it means “not possible”; when it’s used in 'impatient', it means “not patient”.
Example
Prefixes are employed to reduce phrases to a single word. E.g. - Instead of saying 'something that does not wrinkle', you can use the term 'antiwrinkle'.
They are crucial in academic disciplines as well, particularly for subject categorization, like 'bio-logy', 'geo-logy', 'bio-technology', etc.
Some prefixes, like 'a-', 'in-', or 'un-', are already negative.So, using double negative with them cancels the whole negative idea.
Example
The word 'unnecessary' is already negative. But if we write 'not unnecessary', it means 'necessary'.