At some point in the chaos of life, words become nothing but words and the particular pieces fall to the back of your memory. Yet, to truly understand what you’re saying, you have to know the purpose of the pieces. Today, with help from a little digging in the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, let’s refresh on common prefixes and suffixes. These aren’t all the classic additions that denote a specific number or what suffixes will tell you verb tenses. What we are dealing with here, are just as common added pieces that don’t get quite as much thought.

Let’s go.

Prefixes

Conflate

Now there is no easy way to break conflate down and plug it back together. But we’ll at least be able to examine how the prefix influences the entire word’s context. Con- is one of the prefixes that seems to be everywhere and it’s because the meaning indicates, with or thoroughly. Conflate as a word means to blend two things together. Yet, it can also mean to confuse similar things. There are plenty of other words you can find where the prefix does most of the work, but that is a discussion for another day.

Antecedent

Before we get too deep, understand that some of these words’ definitions will shift around from what the singular pieces actually mean. Antecedent is a perfect example of that situation. The prefix ante- means before or earlier. Cedent is an assignor of a debt or a claim. Now, the two pieces combine to mean, a preceding event, condition or cause. It’s not exactly an obvious combination, but when you think of debts or claims in terms of previous events, things start to fit into place. 

Anticlimactic

In the prefix world, it’s easy to remember that anti- means to be opposed or against something. When you’re dealing with feelings, actions or any degree of being a person, you’ll come across the word climactic. Merriam-Webster explains climatic as, relating to or constituting a climax, also known as a highest point. So, the prefix then affects the relationship between the action and the let down of the result, causing the opposition of a climax. 

Desensitize

Now, since these prefixes are so close together in their spelling and all serve the same general function, it is easy to lump some of them together. De- means to be from or away from something. As you can probably tell, sensitize serves as the more clinical term to make something sensitive. To desensitize something then means, in the most basic terms, to move away from being sensitive or reactive. 

Disoriented

Unlike the previous prefix, dis- doesn’t give any sense of direction, but it does signal the absence of the root word. For this specific example, we’re dealing with oriented, meaning physical, mental or emotional bearings. When someone is described as disoriented, there is an absence of bearings, usually physical. 

Imperceptible

Prefixes starting with I have a variety of meanings that all somehow relate to one another. Luckily for this case, im- is a clear cut prefix that means no or none. To be perceptible means that it can be perceived, focusing on the perception of the senses. Pair the two into one word and suddenly something cannot be perceived. 

In–

Before we try to pick a specific example, let’s unpack the prefix itself. Using in– there are three different possibilities, it either can indicate being inside, being on something, or show that nothing is happening. Inscribe means to write on. Influx means a continuous movement in a direction. Inaction means a specific lack of action. Be careful about your intentions when trying to put a sentence together with an in– prefix.

Suffixes

Simultaneous

Flipping the script, let’s focus on suffixes. When something takes the –ous or –ious suffix, the word is characterizing something. In the case of simultaneous, the characterization comes from two things happening at the exact same time. 

Quarrelsome

The suffix for this example has nothing to do with the common use of some as a word. When -some is used as an add-on, it’s meant to signal a relationship that someone has the tendency to do whatever the root word is. Look at the pieces here. Quarrel is a verb that means, to find fault. Adding on the suffix then means that the person or subject of the sentence, has a tendency to find fault. 

Penmanship

Everyone hears penmanship and immediately thinks it’s just another word for handwriting, right? Well, yes and no. The suffix –ship is meant to show a position held by someone, which is why you see it connected to so many occupations. However, for this specific instance, it denotes that each person has an individual type of handwriting. One person’s penmanship is different from another person. 

Ancestor

Another type that gets connected to occupations is the –or/er suffix. When –ship doesn’t fit the context of the sentence, –or/er simply shows the presence of a person. Think of the word Ancestor, The root word signals that it is to do with family history. This suffix finishes the word off so we know that it is a person from your family history. The difference between using –er over –or depends purely on the spelling of the word in question, they both mean the same thing. 

–ful

Much like some of the trickier writing tools, the -ful suffix depends on the circumstances. There are two different meanings, one that is used with adjectives and the other with nouns. Look at it in practice for a better understanding. In the case of an adjective, –ful means to be full of that specific characteristic. The word tasteful is clearly saying that the subject has an abundance of taste or actual flavor. Now, if you’re dealing with nouns that can be physically measured, then –ful means that quantity has been reached. Think of the word handful, sure sometimes it’s only used figuratively but the hand is an actual form of measurement.