Running head: THE RULES FOR ENGLISH NEGATIVE PREFIXES 1

The Rules for English Negative Prefixes

Monchi Liu

Colorado Stata University

THE RULES FOR ENGLISH NEGATIVE PREFIXES 2

Introduction

Morphology is one of the branches of linguistics, which studies the internal structure of

words, including inflection and word formation. (Aronoff & Fudeman, 2011) Word-formation

deals with the internal structure of compound words -- words that are composed of more than

one meaningful elements. Some words can be divided into smaller components. These

components are called morphemes. Morphemes can be classified into different groups depending

on various criteria. One of the criteria is to divide them into derivational morphemes, inflectional

morphemes, and roots. The derivational morpheme attached to the left of the root of a word is

defined as prefixed. One of the primary concerns in word-formation is negative prefixes, which

this paper will focus on.

Many prefixes denote a negative meaning in English (Dzuganova, 2006). Because the

difference of etymology, the characteristics of word formation and semantic features are

different. In fact, Chinese students have been taught English since primary school, but they have

never been exposed to the concept of morphology in their English learning process. It is true that

they might know some root words, prefixes or suffixes. Nevertheless, they certainly have not

accessed to the concept of morphology systematically. By studying the negative prefixes in

English, a better understanding of morphology can be given.

In the big family of English prefixes, there are at least fifteen prefixes that denote

negative meaning, for example a-, an-, ab-, anti-, in-, im-, il-, ir, de-, dis-, dys-, mal-, mis-, non-,

un-, etc. (Dzuganova, 2006; Dzuganova, 2007). English learners are often very confused by the

different uses of these negative prefixes and other non-negative prefixes, that is, English words

that have the same root word but attached with different prefixes are hard to distinguish from one

another. For example, irrespective and disrespectful, incomparable and uncomparable. Although
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the negative prefixes in the previous examples do not completely have negative meanings,

learners are especially puzzled by this kind of words. Negative prefixes occupy a large part of

the total amount of English derivative vocabulary. For instance, happy and unhappy, like and

dislike, political and apolitical, normal and abnormal. These negative prefixes have their own

characteristics of word formation and semantic features which seem to be unpredictable and hard

to remember for English learners. Therefore, to master these negative prefixes, the characteristics

of word formation and semantic features are two key aspects to start with.

Characteristics of Word Formation

Due to the difference of etymology, pronunciation, and semantics of English negative

prefixes, they have their own characteristics of word formation. The negative prefixes which

come from a language are commonly combined with other stems of this language in neologisms.

(Dzuganova, 2006). There are three primary sources of derivational affixes in English: Greek,

Latin, and Old English (Adams, 2016, p. 161). Thus, a stem that a particular negative prefix in

combination with, also comes from the same language.

The negative prefix a- came into English from Greek (Dzuganova, 2006), the basic

meanings are without and not (American Heritage Dictionary, 2011, p. 1, abbreviated as AHD in

the rest of this article), and it can be used to form amoral, apolitical, asexual etc. Ab- is a variant

form of a-, the basic meaning is away from (AHD, 2011, p. 2). It can be attached before

adjectives to compose an adjective that has an opposite meaning, such as normal and abnormal.

Sometimes ab- also can be added before a noun or a verb to form words such as absence and

abuse. The negative prefix an- is another variant form of a-, and it has the same basic meaning as

a-. Typically, it can be attached before a vowel or a word beginning with consonant h

(Dzuganova, 2006). Such as anharmonic and anhydrous.

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Anti- is a prefix which came from Greek as well (Dzuganova, 2007). It is universally

used in modern English. The basic meanings are opposite, against, counteracting, and destroying

(AHD, 2011, p. 76), and it can be used to form antiapartheid, antacid, antiaircraft, etc.

Additionally, anti- can be attached before nouns and adjectives. The words written without a

hyphen have already become a part of the lexicon, such as antibacterial, antibiotic, antineutron,

etc. There is another meaning of anti- which is “opposed to a particular system or practice or to a

particular group of people or their policies, culture or power” (Dzuganova, 2007). For example,

anti-social, anti-American, anti-governmental, etc. It refers to someone’s negative attitude.

The negative prefixes in- (il-, im-, ir-) are derived from Latin (Andreou, 2015), il-, im-,

ir-, are variant forms of in-. Normally the prefix in- is changed to il- if the root word starts with a

l, the prefix in- is changed to im- if the root word starts with a m, and the prefix is changed to ir-

if the root word starts with a r (AHD, 2011, p. 885). The basic meaning of this group of prefixes

is not, which can be attached to invisible, illegal, impolite, irreversible, etc. Additionally, the

negative prefix in- causes the derived word to have the opposite meaning of its root under most

circumstances such as incredible, inconstant, infrequent, etc. Nouns and adjectives composed

with in- mostly contain strong negative connotation (Andreou, 2015) such as illegitimate,

illiberal, incompetent, indignity, etc.

The negative prefix de- is a prefix “from Middle English de-, from Old French de- (from

Latin dē-, from, off, apart, away, down, out) or from Old French des-” (AHD, 2011, p. 465). De-

means “reverse” (p. 465), which can be attached to deactivate, decontaminate, decompress,

decipher, etc. Also, de- is a prefix which frequently occurs in English that may lead a reversal of

something, for example, code means to convert (a message, for example) into code and decode

means to convert from code into plaintext (AHD, 2011). Although de- mainly combines with
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verbs, there are some nouns and adjectives that can be attached to it too, such as deactivation,

declassification, dehydration, etc.

The negative prefix dis- was borrowed from Old French whose etymology was Latin

(Andreou, 2015). The basic meanings are “not, absence of, and opposite of” (AHD, 2011, p. 512),

which can be mostly used to form verbs and nouns, as in disinterest, disfavor, etc. Based on the

meanings of the prefix dis-, the semantic meaning of disinterest can be inferred as lack of

interest, and disapprove can be inferred as not approve. Dis- also can be attached before

adjectives, as in dishonest, dissimilar, disloyal, etc. Also, it can be attached to Latinate words,

such as dissimilarity, disobey (the root words similar and obey are from Latin). Additionally, the

negative prefix dis- has the meaning of “undo” (AHD, 2011, p. 512). It can be used to form

disarrange, disable, disappear, etc.

The negative prefix dys- comes from Latin prefix dys-, and the Latin prefix dys- is from

Greek prefix dus- (AHD, 2011). In some cases, the negative prefix a- is interchangeable with the

prefix dys- as in acalculia and dyscalculia, apepsia and dyspepsia (Dzuganova, 2006). In

addition, it can be attached to the root word which from Greek, Latin or Old English in the past.

In modern English, dis- and dys- have a tendency to be more interchangeable. For example,

between dysfunction and disfunction, there are no differences in semantic features.

The prefix mal- is originally from Latin, which conveys the meaning of “bad or

abnormal” (AHD, 2011, p. 1060). For example, the meaning bad denotes maladminister (means

to administer or manage inefficiently or dishonestly), the meaning abnormal denotes

malformation (means the condition of being malformed) (AHD, 2011). Mal- is generally added

before nouns and adjectives, sometimes before verbs. For instance, maladministration (n., the

part of speech which indicates in the parentheses refer to the word without the prefix mal-),
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maladjustment (n.), maladapted (adj.), malcontent (adj.), maltreat (v.), etc. It is considered to be

a negative prefix (March 2003).

According to Dzuganova (2007, p. 236), mis- is considered to be a negative prefix. This

negative prefix is from Old English, and means “bad, failure, lack” (AHD, 2011, p. 1124). It can

be added before nouns, adjectives, verbs and adverbs, and is extensively used in modern English.

For example, the mis- in misconduct means bad, and the mis- means failure and lack in misfire.

The negative prefix non- comes from Latin, and means “not” (AHD, 2011, p. 1198). It

can be added before most adjectives. For example, nonessential (means not essential), non-

productive (means not productive), etc. It also can be added before nouns such as non-adherence,

non-producer, nonresident, etc. However, there is not a verb combines with it.

The negative prefix un- is one of the most widely used negative prefixes in English. It

comes from Old English (Dzuganova, 2006). Generally speaking, when un- is added before

nouns and adjectives, the basic meaning is “not” (AHD, 2011, p. 1882). For example, the word

fruitful means “producing fruit or useful result” and the word unfruitful has an opposite meaning,

that is, “not bearing fruit or useful result” (AHD, 2011, p. 706). When un- is added before verbs,

the basic meanings are “reverse, remove, or opposite of” (MWAL, 2008, p. 1779). For example,

the word cover means to place something upon or over. The word uncover means to remove a

cover (AHD, 2011, p. 421, 1886). Also, uncover denotes discover (something previously secret

or unknown) as in the sentence Sherlock Holmes uncovered a dangerous plot.

Semantic Features

Various negative prefixes may cause a significant problem to English learners. Learners

may have difficulty distinguishing the semantic meaning, mastering the usage, grasping the

regular pattern. However, there are some rules that I have found during my research.
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First, different prefixes denote different meanings. For example, disuse means “The state

of not being used or of being no longer in use” (AHD, 2011, p. 525), which can be used as The

knife is rusty from disuse. Misuse means “To use incorrectly, to mistreat or abuse” (AHD, 2011,

p. 1128), which can be used as It is common for Chinese students to misuse some of the English

words. The difference between disuse and misuse is the former one refers to a situation in which

something is no longer used, while the latter one refers to wrong use. The negative prefix non-

usually used before nouns, and the basic meaning is “not”. Nonuse means “Something refrains

from use.” (AHD, 2011, p. 1201), which can be used as Please compare the use and nonuse of

the reflexive pronoun. Unused means “Not in use or put to use, never having been used, not

accustomed” (AHD, 2011, p. 1901), which can be used as Which pair of chopstick is unused.

Another instance, the group of words amoral, immoral, unmoral and nonmoral can all refer to

“contrary to established moral principles” (AHD, 2011, p. 879), but they still have some slight

differences, which can be confusing for learners. As a result, learners need to pay more attention

on these kinds of words. Immoral means “contrary to established moral principles” (AHD, 2011,

p. 879), which refers to anything which does not conform to the accepted ethical principles.

Moral is an antonym of immoral, unmoral, and nonmoral. Unmoral means “having no moral

quality” (AHD, 2011, p. 1897). Amoral means “not admitting of moral distinctions or judgments;

neither moral nor immoral” (AHD, 2011, p. 60). Nonmoral means “having no moral or ethical

standards” (AHD, 2011, p. 1199).

Second, the changes of part of speech can sometimes lead to variations of the negative

prefixes. For example, disbenefit is a noun while unbenefited is an adjective. Discomfort can be

both noun and verb while its adjective would be uncomfortable. Disarm is a verb while unarmed

and disarmed are both adjectives. Also, there are some allo-graphic synonyms in English. For
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example, discomfortable and uncomfortable generally mean the same thing, which is

“experiencing physical discomfort” (AHD, 2011, p. 1885), but discomfortable is no longer used

these days.

Conclusion

This study focuses on the rules for negative prefixes. I have elaborated on two aspects,

they are, the rules for word formation of English negative prefixes and their semantic features. In

the course of this analysis, I have discussed fifteen English negative prefixes, a-, an-, ab-, anti-,

in-, im-, il-, ir, de-, dis-, dys-, mal-, mis-, non-, and un-, with plenty of examples. As a result, I

have a better understanding of these concepts during the study.

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332-335.

Dzuganova, B. (2007). Seemingly or partially negative prefixes in medical English. Bratislavské

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