Prefixes (re- & un-)

When you don't know what a word means, one strategy is to break the word into parts and think about the meaning of each part.

Many words in the English language are made up of word parts called prefixes, roots, and suffixes.

These word parts have specific meanings that, when added together, can help you determine the meaning of the word as a whole.

A group of letters added to the beginning of a word to change the meaning is a prefix.

A group of letters added to the end of a word to change the meaning is a suffix.

Roots are words or word parts that come from languages other than English. You can add prefixes and suffixes to roots.