Spanish Prefixes: Boost Your Vocabulary Overnight

Once you discover Spanish prefixes, you can instantly boost your Spanish vocabulary overnight.

Although the term may sound complicated, the same concept exists in English, which makes it easy to understand.

So what are Spanish prefixes?

As the name indicates, prefixes precede a base word, to which they can grant different meanings.

There’s no need to go too deep on grammar terminology, but you should know that prefixes belong to a group called affixes, which contain the smallest grammatical unit in a language. So small are prefixes that they are not considered words, since don’t have any meaning by themselves.

In this case, prefixes only make sense when they are added before a base word to form a derivative.

The easiest way to understand this concept is to look at the most commonly used Spanish prefixes.

Most textbooks split prefixes into two groups:

1. Spanish prefixes with Greek roots
2. Spanish prefixes with Latin roots

There no particular reason for splitting them up this way, but nonetheless, let’s see explore the prefixes by their category.

As you will see, some prefixes slightly alter the meaning of words, while other prefixes completely change the meaning.

Prefixes With Greek Roots

Prefix	Meaning	Original Word	Word with prefix	English Translation
a-, an-	Lack or absence	—	Amorfo	Shapeless
anfi-	Surround or by the sides	Teatro (Theater)	Anfiteatro	Amphitheater (open-air theater)
em-, en-	Enclosure or inclusion	Cerrar (To close)	Encerrar	Enclose
endo-	Internal	copia (Copy)	Endoscopia	Endoscopy
epi-	Above or next to	Centro ( Center)	Epicentro	Epicenter
eu-	Good or great	—	Eufonía	Euphony
exo-	Outer	Esqueleto (Skeleton)	Exoesqueleto	Exoskeleton
hemi-	In the middle	—	Hemisferio	Hemisphere
hiper-	Over or excess	Tensión (Tension)	Hipertensión	Hypertension
hipo-	Under	Alergénico (Allergenic)	Hipoalergénico	Hypoallergenic
peri-	Around	Metro (Meter)	Perímetro	Perimeter
poli-	Several	—	Políglota	Polyglot
pro-	Ahead of, substitution or in favor of	—	Prólogo	Prologue
sin-	Union or simultaneity	—	Sintonía	Tuning

Prefixes With Latin roots

Prefix	Meaning	Original Word	Word with prefix	English Translation
ad-	Towards or added to	—	Adjunto	Attached
bi-, bis-	Two or twice	Abuelo (Grandfather)	Bisabuelo	Great grandfather
circum-, circun-	Around	Polar (Polar)	Circumpolar	Circumpolar
co-, con-, com-, cor-	With, cooperation aggregation	Ciudadano (Citizen)	Conciudadano	Fellow citizen
des-	Denial or lack of	Activar (To activate)	Desactivar	Deactivate
ex –	Outside of	Centrico (Centric)	Excéntrico	Excentric
ex –	That it has stopped	Presidente (President)	Expresidente	Expresident
extra-	Extremely	Fino (Fine/Thin)	Extrafino	Superfine
extra-	Outside of	Fuerte (Strong)	Extrafuerte	Extrastrong
in-, im-	In or inside	—	Incluir	Include
i-, in-, im-	Deprived of	Posible (Possible)	Imposible	Impossible
inter-	Inbetween	Nacional (National)	Internacional	International
intra-	Inside of	Venoso (Venous)	Intravenoso	Intravenous
multi-	Many	Color (Color)	Multicolor	Multicolor
omni-	All	—	Omnisciente	Omniscience
pos-, post-	After	Operatorio (Operative)	Postoperatorio	Postoperative
pre-	In front of or prior to	Historia (History)	Prehistoria	Prehistory
pro-	Ahead, substitution or in favor of	Nombre (Nombre)	Pronombre	Pronoun
re-	Again	Escribir ( To write)	Reescribir	Rewrite
retro-	Backwards	Visor	Retrovisor	Rearview mirror
su-, sub-	Under	—	Subterráneo	Subterrain
super-, supra-	On top of	Estructura (Structure)	Superestructura	Superstructure
trans-, tras-	Through or beyond	Atlántico (Atlantic)	Transatlántico	Transatlantic
ultra-	Beyond or extremely	Liviano (Light)	Ultraliviano	Ultralight
vice-	Instead or substitute	Ministro (Minister)	Viceministro	Vice Minister

Practice Spanish Prefixes

Highlight the Spanish prefix in the following sentences:

1) En este caso solo el vicepresidente puede tomar esas decisiones. (In this case, only the vice-president can make that kind of decision)

2) El veterinario mencionó algo sobre endoparásitos pero no recuerdo mucho. (The veterinarian mentioned something about endoparasites but I don’t remember that much)

3) Cuando usamos una luz ultravioleta podemos ver muchísimo más. (When we use ultraviolet light we can see much more)

4) No hay de qué preocuparse, el daño solo fue en la epidermis. (There’s nothing to worry about, only the epidermis was damaged)

5) Hay mucho trabajo en la preproducción de una película. (A lot of work goes to the preproduction of a movie)

6) Hay un hipermercado a unas calles de aquí, allá podemos comprar lo que hace falta. (There is a hypermarket a few blocks from here, we can go there and buy what is missing)

7) Su religión, al contrario de muchas, no cree en un dios omnipotente. (Their religion, unlike many, does not believe in an omnipotent god)

8) Contradijo todos los pronósticos y solo fue una tormenta de unas horas. (Against all forecasts, it was just a regular storm that lasted a few hours)

9) El guión fue reescrito unas cinco veces antes de la versión final. (The script was rewritten about five times before the final draft)

10) Es una persona con muchísima simpatía, es agradable de conocer. (There’s a lot of sympathy to him, it’s nice to get to know him)

Answers

1)    Vicepresidente (Vice meaning the replacement of the president, taking its place)

2)    Endoparásitos (Grants the added “Internal” meaning to the parasites)

3)    Ultravioleta (Ultra, getting the light rays higher their usual visible spectrum)

4)    Epidermis (The outer or “above” layer of the skin)

5)    Preproducción (The process that starts before or prepares the production)

6)    Hipermercado (An even bigger, more stocked kind of grocery store)

7)    Omnipotente (Omni meaning “all”, literally making the word almighty)

8)    Pronósticos (Prior to, knowing or guessing something before it happens or arrives)

9)    Reescrito (Re, meaning again, makes the word “written again”)

10) Simpatía (Inclination to like someone else, or feel similar to them)