Negative Prefix List: the Top 6

What's the difference between dis- and mis- or between un- and non-?
This negative prefix list can help you understand the important prefixes at
the beginnings of words that can change a word's meaning into its
opposite.

I have added the parts of speech (verb, adjective, noun) to the examples
because some people have been looking for negative adjectives or
negative verbs.

Go straight to the examples:

 de-

 dis-

 in- (or il-, im-, or ir-)

 mis-

 non-

 un-

Negative Prefix List: Uses

 De- is almost always used before a verb, or a word formed from
that verb, and means to reverse the verb’s action, as in dehydrate,
deregulate, or detoxify. (It has other meanings in addition to making
a verb negative. For example, it means 'down' in decline, decrease,
and depression.)

 Dis- can be used with verbs, nouns, adjectives or adverbs. It also

has other meanings besides making words negative.
  In-, non-, and un- are usually used for nouns, adjectives, or the
adverbs formed from them (though un- is also used for verbs.)
They all mean not _____. (In- is the negative prefix in Latin. non-
means 'not' in Latin, and many words using it as a prefix came into
English via French. Un- comes from Old English.)

 Mis- (often from Old English, or in some words from French) is

used with verbs (and adjectives and adverbs made from them), as
well as nouns. It means bad, wrong, or wrongly.

 Non- usually means not, but also may mean lack of something.

 Un- is the most common negative prefix in English. If in doubt, it's

the best one to try. Even many words originally from Latin roots are
negated in English with 'un.'

Note that sometimes one prefix is used for an adjective, and different
ones are used for related nouns or verbs.

For example:

 unable, inability, (to) disable;

 unbalanced, imbalance, (to) unbalance;
 unstable, instability, (to) destabilize.
 To deactivate is to make something inactive.

Usually, however, the same prefix serves both adjective and noun:
uncertain, uncertainty; unwilling, unwillingness; unfriendly, unfriendliness,
inadequate, inadequacy, disloyal, disloyalty, etc.

Examples:
1. De-

Examples: deactivate, decode, decommission, decompose, deconstruct,

decontaminate, decrease, deflate, deflect, deform, demythologize, derail,
detract.

The list above is all verbs. Any of them could be made into adjectives by
adding -ed (or -d if the verb ends in 'e' already: decoded, deflated, etc.)
Several could also be made into nouns: deactivation, decomposition,
decontamination, deflation, etc. Decrease can be used as a noun as it is.

Note that the prefix de- in Latin (and in words that originate in Latin) has
other, contrary meanings as well as sometimes making words negative.
(See List of Prefixes.) It is often used as an intensifier, meaning
completely (as in demand), as well as meaning from, down, or away.
When used with an English verb to make a new word, it works as a
negative. (Debug, defrost, devalue.)

2. Dis-

Examples (verb/ adjective/ noun or vb/ adj when all or both are
common): disaffected (adj.), disable/ disabled/ disability, disagree/
disagreeable/ disagreement, disbelief (noun), disfigure/ disfigured,
dishonor/ dishonored/ dishonorable, disinfect/ disinfected, disinfection,
disinherit/ disinherited, disintegrate/ disintegrated/ disintegration, disloyal
(adj.) and disloyalty (noun), displease/ displeased or displeasing/
displeasure, disproportionate (adj.), distasteful (adj.) and distaste (noun),
distrust (verb or noun)/ distrustful (adj.).

(Tasteful refers to something that shows good taste or judgment. Things

which are pleasant to the taste buds are ‘tasty.’ Distasteful refers to tasks
that are unpleasant. Foods that lack flavor are tasteless. A lack of good
taste in aesthetics can also be called tasteless.)

3. In- (or il-, im-, or ir-)

In- often changes to 'il-' before l; 'im-' before b, m, or p; and 'ir-'

before r. These changes make it easier to pronounce.

Adjective Examples: illegal, illegible, illiterate, illogical, immature,

impatient, imperfect, impossible, imprecise, inaccessible, inaccurate,
inadequate, inappropriate, incapable, incoherent, incompatible,
incomplete, inconceivable, inconsistent, incredible, indefinite, indiscreet,
inevitable, infinite, inflexible, insecure, insignificant, insubordinate,
insufficient, invalid, invariable, invisible, involuntary, irrational, irregular,
irrelevant, irreparable, irresistible, irresponsible, irreversible, etc.

A few noun examples using the same roots: illegibility, illiteracy,

immaturity, impatience, imperfection, impossibility, imprecision,
inaccessibility, inaccuracy, inadequacy, inappropriateness,
incapability, incoherence, incompatibility, incompleteness, inconsistency,
indiscretion, inevitability, infinity, inflexibility, insecurity, insignificance,
insubordination, insufficiency, invalidity, invariability, invisibility,
irrationality, irregularity, irrelevance, irresponsibility.

Most of these do not have verb forms.

Exceptions in which ‘in-‘ does not negate, but intensifies: Inflammable has
the same meaning as flammable-- something that burns easily. Their
opposite is nonflammable. The same is true for habitable and inhabitable
(the negative is uninhabitable).
Valuable and invaluable also are synonyms— except that invaluable is
even stronger. It means something is priceless: so valuable that a person
would not want to give it up for any amount of money.

4. Mis-
Examples: misconduct (noun), misdemeanor(noun), misdiagnose (to
diagnose wrongly)/ misdiagnosed/ misdiagnosis, misinform/ misinformed/
misinformation, misinterpret/ misinterpreted/ misinterpretation, mislead/
misled or misleading, misplace/ misplaced, misspell/ misspelled/
misspelling, mistake/ mistaken/ mistake, mistrust (both a noun and a
verb, but weaker than distrust), misunderstand/ misunderstood/
misunderstanding..

Note that a misdiagnosed disease is diagnosed incorrectly, as compared

to an undiagnosed disease, which has not been diagnosed at all. Similarly, a
misinformed person has been given wrong information, while an uninformed
person simply does not know much about a subject.

5. Non-
Examples-- nouns: nonconformist or nonconformity, nonentity,
nonexistence, nonintervention, nonsense, etc.

Adjectives: nonconforming, nonexistent, nonmetallic, nonpartisan,

nonresident, nonrestrictive (but unrestricted), nonsensical, nonstop.

I can't think of any verbs that begin with non-.

Some words can be negated either with non- or with another

negative. In those cases non- has a more neutral connotation. For
example, nonstandard means not according to the usual standard, but
substandard is below the standard: not good. Nonreligious means not
religious, but irreligious means more actively opposed to religion.

6. Un-
(Adjective) Examples: unable, unacknowledged, unaffected (not
affected at all; disaffected means affected badly), unafraid, unaided,
unaltered or unalterable, unambiguous, unanticipated, unapproachable,
unassigned, unattainable, unavailable, unaware, unceasing, uncertain,
unclear, unconventional, uncooperative, uncoordinated, unenforced,
unexposed, unfocused, unfriendly*, unhelpful, uninformed, unknown,
unmodified, unnatural, unpleasant, unpredictable, unprofessional,
unrealistic, unrefined, unresolved, unrestricted, unscheduled, unstable,
untouched, unwilling, unwise, etc.
*(in this case -ly isn’t for an adverb. Both friendly & unfriendly are
adjectives)

A few of these have related nouns including unavailability,

unawareness, uncertainty, unenforceability, unpleasantness,
unpredictability, unreality, and untouchability, as well as inability,
instability, and irresolution.

Very few are verbs: undo and (only informally, on Facebook) unfriend.

There are many more examples of negative prefixes on 50 Word

Roots, though not nearly all the possible forms. (You can make almost
any adjective negative with ‘un-’ except the negatives that we carried over
from Latin with ‘in-‘ (or ‘il-‘, ‘im-‘ or ’ir-‘. Remember that these 'in-' prefixes
can also mean ‘in’ or ‘into.’)

You can find the negatives on that page both in the main list and
sometimes pointed out, especially when different forms of a word take
different negative prefixes. I counted the different negative prefix uses—
all useful words that I have read and might use. None of these Latin roots
took the prefix ‘mis-.‘ Four (nouns and adjectives) took ‘non-,‘ 13 took ‘de-
‘; 9 ‘dis-‘ 22 ‘in-‘’im-‘, etc., and well over 30 (not all written down) took ‘un-
.’

Other prefixes, besides the 6 on this negative prefix list, can sometimes
give a negative connotation to words. (Note 'sub-' above.) Contra-
counter-, and ob- also often negate the meaning of a oot. These 6 are the
most common, however. They are worth knowing!

The best way to learn the different negative prefixes is to work (or play)
with them. You can do both on Practice Negative Prefixes. It emphasizes
academic vocabulary, so is also a good way to review about 60 common
words on the Academic Word List.

You can also see how some of these negative prefixes (de-, in-, and un- )
are used in Word Families, Word Family Practice, and Word Formation
Examples & Exercises.

Understanding suffix use in English can give a big boost to your

vocabulary too. See Suffix List or List of Suffixes.

If you teach English, br sure to check out Root, Prefix, and Suffix
Worksheets. The Common Prefix packet contains printable pdf lessons
with all the information from this page, the List of Prefixes, and a great
deal of practice (with negative prefixes as well as all the most common
prefixes) for just $3. There are also root, suffix, and combination packets.
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