| The American Heritage® Book of English Usage. |
A Practical and Authoritative Guide to Contemporary English. 1996.
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Page 251
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pro-
| | Pro- is another prefix that exists in two forms. The first comes from Latin pro, meaning “for.” In English, this pro- usually means “favoring” or “supporting,” as when it is prefixed to names of nationalities: pro-American. In this sense, the opposite of pro- would be anti: proslavery/antislavery. | 1 |
| The other pro- comes from Greek pro, meaning “before, in front.” The word prologue comes from Greek prologos, from pro- plus logos, meaning “speech.” In English, pro- often means “before” or “earlier” and is used mainly in science terms: prophase. | 2 |
re-
| The primary meaning of the prefix re-, which comes from Latin, is “again.” Re- combines chiefly with verbs, as in these examples: rearrange, rebuild, recall, remake, rerun, rewrite. The prefix has been used with this meaning extensively in English since the 1600s. Sometimes it is necessary to use a hyphen with re- to distinguish between pairs such as recollect (r ´´ -lkt’) and re-collect (r ´´k-lkt’) or recreation (rk´´r ’shn) and re-creation (r´´kr-’shn). A hyphen may also be used when re- precedes a word beginning with e, as in re-enact and re-enter. | 3 |
retro-
| | The prefix retro-, meaning “backward, back,” comes from the Latin prefix retro-, meaning “backward, behind.” The most common English words beginning with retro- are derived from Latin words or elements. Retroactive comes from Latin retro- and the verb agere, “to drive.” Retrograde combines retro- with the verb gradi, “to walk.” Retrospect adds retro- to the verb specere, “to look at.” The 19th and 20th centuries have seen many scientific or technical terms coined with English retro-, such as retrorocket. | 4 |
self-
| | The prefix self- goes back to the Old English word self, meaning virtually the same thing it does today. In Old English there were about a dozen compounds with self- of which only one has remained common: self-will. In Modern English, however, the number of new compounds with self- has increased. Self- usually forms compounds with adjectives, as in self-conscious, self-employed, and self-governing, and nouns, as in self-confidence, self-improvement, and self-satisfaction, and indicates something about oneself. | 5 |
semi- / hemi- / demi-
| | The prefix semi- means “half” or “partially.” In general it combines with adjectives: semiattached, semidry, semisweet. Semi- also combines, less commonly, with nouns: semidarkness, semidesert, semidome. Semi- can be compared with the prefixes hemi- and demi-. All three have basically the same meaning, but semi- comes from Latin semi-, meaning “half,” and hemi- comes from Greek hemi-, meaning “half.” Demi- comes from Latin dimidius, meaning “divided in half,” from dis, “apart, asunder” plus medius, “half.” | 6 |
-ship
| | The suffix -ship has a long history in English. It goes back to the Old English suffix -scipe, which was attached to adjectives and nouns to indicate a particular state or condition: hardship, friendship. In Modern English the | 7 |
| The American Heritage® Book of English Usage. Copyright © 1996 by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
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