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Prefixes, roots, and suffixes are the main parts that make up words. Not every word has all three, but most have at least one. A word’s prefix — the first syllable — affects its meaning. A suffix is the last syllable in a word, and it, too, affects the word’s meaning. Roots are the parts that lie in the middle of a word. Think of roots as the base of the word and prefixes and suffixes as word parts that are attached to the base to modify its meaning. (Check out the following section for more info on — you guessed it — roots.)

These basic word parts generally have the same meaning in whatever word they’re used. For instance, the prefix pro- means in favor of, forward, or positive, whether you use it in the word proton or the word proceed.

Tables 4-2 and 4-3 list some common prefixes and suffixes. Each list has the word part, its meaning, and one word that uses each word part. Write down additional words that use each word part to help you memorize the list. You can find even more prefixes, suffixes, and roots in Appendix C.

TABLE 4-2 Prefixes

Prefix	Meaning	Sample Word
a-	no, not	atheist
ab- or abs-	away, from	absent
anti-	against	antibody
bi-	two	bilateral
circum-	around	circumnavigate
com- or con-	with, together	conform
contra- or counter-	against	contradict
de-	away from	detour
deca-	ten	decade
extra-	outside, beyond	extracurricular, extraordinary
fore-	in front of	foretell
geo-	earth	geology
hyper-	above, over	hyperactive
il-	not	illogical
mal- or male-	evil, bad	malediction
multi-	many	multiply
ob-	blocking	obscure
omni-	all	omnibus
out-	external	outside
que-, quer-, or ques-	ask	question, query
re-	back, again	return
semi-	half	semisweet
super-	over, more	superior
tele-	far	telephone
trans-	across	transatlantic
un-	not	uninformed

Suffixes are busy little word segments. They affect the meaning of a word and usually tell you what part of speech a word is (which comes in handy when you’re navigating through Word Knowledge questions that you can’t answer immediately).

TABLE 4-3 Suffixes

Suffix	Part of Speech It Indicates	Meaning	Original Word: Suffixed Word
-able or -ible	Adjective	capable of	agree: agreeable
-age	Noun	act of	break: breakage
-al	Adjective	relating to	function: functional
-ance or -ence	Noun	instance of an action	perform: performance
-ation	Noun	action, process	liberate: liberation
-en	Adjective, verb	made from	silk: silken
-ful	Adjective	full of	help: helpful
-ic	Adjective	relating to, like	anemia: anemic
-ical	Adjective	possessing a quality of	magic: magical
-ion	Noun	result of, act of	legislate: legislation
-ish	Adjective, noun	resembling	child: childish
-ism	Noun	condition or manner	hero: heroism
-ist	Noun	one who or that which does	anarchy: anarchist
-ity	Noun	quality of or state of	dense: density
-less	Adjective, noun	not having	worth: worthless
-let	Noun	small one	book: booklet
-ly	Adjective, adverb	like	fearless: fearlessly
-ment	Noun	act or process of	establish: establishment
-ness	Adjective, noun	possessing a quality	good: goodness
-or, -er	Noun	one who does a thing	orate: orator
-ous	Adjective	state of	danger: dangerous

If you memorize prefixes, suffixes, and roots, you have a better chance of figuring out the meaning of an unfamiliar word when you see it on the ASVAB. Figuring out the meaning of unfamiliar words is how people with large vocabularies make them even larger. (They look up words in the dictionary, too.)