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GCSE English Language · key term
A letter or group of letters added to the beginning of a word to change its meaning, such as ‘dis–’ in ‘disagree’.
Used by AQA, Edexcel, OCR and Eduqas
Paper 1, Paper 2
Letters added to the beginning of a word to form another word, such as ‘un-’ in ‘unnecessary’.
Revise: SpellingA prefix goes at the beginning: dis + satisfied = dissatisfied, so both joining ‘s’ letters remain. A suffix goes at the end: care + ful = careful, with one ‘l’ in ‘-ful’. When adding ‘-ing’ to write, drop the silent final ‘e’ to make writing.
Paper 1, Paper 2
When checking a difficult word, separate its prefix, root and suffix, then inspect the joins.
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A group of letters added to the beginning of a word to change its meaning, such as ‘un-’ in ‘unhappy’.
A prefix is added at the beginning of a word. Recognising the base word helps you preserve its spelling: ‘happy’ becomes ‘unhappy’, and ‘appear’ becomes ‘disappear’. In ‘disappear’, the prefix is ‘dis-’ and the base word still contains the double ‘p’ in ‘appear’.
Paper 1, Paper 2
A group of letters added before a root word to change its meaning, such as dis- in disappear.
Revise: SpellingA prefix comes before it; a suffix comes after it. Recognising those parts gives you something more reliable than a guess based on pronunciation.
Paper 1, Paper 2
Letters added to the beginning of a root word to change its meaning, such as ‘dis–’ in ‘disagree’.
Revise: SpellingA prefix is added at the beginning of a root.
Component 1, Component 2
Revise: SpellingA prefix goes before a root word. Most prefixes leave the root spelling unchanged: dis + appear = disappear and mis + spell = misspell. Keeping both parts intact explains why ‘misspell’ has two adjacent s letters.
