作者：cutekoala

大家在考试的时候是不是经常遇到生词呢？cutekoala在这里给大家带来一种简单的猜词和增大词汇量的方法——记词根（root）、前缀（prefixes）和后缀（suffixes）。下面是一些常用的词缀。
Prefixes:
1. a = not or without: Someone amoral is without morals, like the sadist who designed GRE exams. Someone atypical is not typical, like the students who wear pocket protectors and love to take tests. Someone apathetic is without feeling, uncaring, like most students by the time they finish the test and are leaving the exam room. (“The world is going to end tomorrow? Fine; that means I can finally get some sleep tonight.”)
2. an = not or without : An anaerobic environment is without oxygen (like the test room feels when a killer question leaves you gasping for air). Anarchy is without rule or government (like a classroom when a substitute teacher is in for the day).
3. eu = good: A eulogy is a good speech, usually given for the dearly departed at a funeral. A euphemism is a god way of saying something or a polite expression, like saying that someone has passed away instead of calling her “worm meat”.
4. ben-/bon- = good: A benefit is something that has a good result, an advantage. Someone benevolent is good and kid; when you have a date, a benevolent father lets you take his new car rather than your old junker. Bon voyage means have a good voyage; a bon vivant is a person who lives the good life.
5. caco- = bad: Something cacophonous is bad-sounding, such as nails on a chalkboard.
6. ne-/mal- = bad: Something negative is bad, like a negative attitude. Someone nefarious is “full of bad”, or wicked and evil, such as a nefarious wizard in a fantasy novel. Something malicious also is “ full of bad”, or wicked and harmful, such as a malicious rumor that you are really a 30-year-old undercover narc.
7. im- = not: Something impossible is not possible. Someone immortal is not going to die but will live forever. Someone implacable is not able to be calmed down, she’s stubborn. Notice that im- can also mean inside (immerse means to put into).
8. in- = not: something inappropriate is not appropriate, such as the language people may use in front of small children when studying for the GRE. Someone inept is not adept, not skillful. Someone insolvent has no money, is bankrupt, like most students after four years of college. In- can also mean inside (innate means something born inside of you) or beginning (the initial letters of your name are the beginning letters).
9. ante- = before: When the clock tells you that it’s 5 a.m., the a.m. stands for ante meridian, which means before the middle, or the first half of the day. Antebellum means before the war. Tara in Gone with the Wind was an antebellum mansion, built before the Civil War. Antediluvian literally means before the flood, before Noah’s deluge. Figuratively, it means very old; if you call your mother antediluvian, you mean that she’s been around since before the flood. It’s a great word to use as an insult because almost no one knows what it means and you can get away with it.
10. post- = after: When the clock tells you that it’s 5 p.m., the p.m. stands for post meridian. It means after the middle, or the second half of the day. Something postmortem occurs after death. A postmortem exam is an autopsy.

Suffixes:
1. –ette = little: A cigarette is a little cigar. A dinette table is a little dining table. A coquette is a little flirt (literally, a little chicken).
2. –illo = little : An armadillo is a little armored animal. A peccadillo is a little sin. (Do you speak Spanish: Pecar is to sin.)
3. –ous = full of (very): Someone joyous is full of joy. Someone amorous is full of amour, or love. Someone pulchritudinous is full of beauty, and therefore beautiful.
4. –ist = a person : A typist is a person who types. A pugilist is a person who fights (pug- means war or fight), a boxer. A pacifist is a person who believes in peace, a noncombatant (pac- means peace or calm).
5. –ify (-efy) = to make: To beautify is to make beautiful. To ossify is to make bone. (If you break your wrist, it takes weeks to ossify again, or for the bone to regenerate.) To deify is to make into a deity, a god.
6. –ize = to make: To alphabetize is to make alphabetical. To immunize is to make immune. To ostracize is to make separate from the group, to shun.
7. –ate = to make : To duplicate is to make double. To renovate is to make new again (nov- means new). To placate is to make peaceful or calm (plac- means peace or calm).
8. –ity = noun suffix that doesn’t actually mean anything; it just turns a word into a noun: Jollity is the noun form of jolly. Serenity is the noun form of serene. Timidity is the noun form of timid.

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