Prefixes and Suffixes with L
Prefixes
Certain words derived from French use the prefixes, la— or le—, but many words beginning with L are from Latin.
la— from the French for “the”.
lacrosse
le— from the French for “the”.
Le Havre [city]
lee— the sheltered side of something, from Old English and German.
leeward, leeway
log— or logo— about a word or speech, from Latin.
logotype
lun— related to the moon, crescent-shaped, from Latin.
lunar, lunatic
Compound words may be created with common words, such as lock, long, look, low, etc., which act like prefixes.
lockdown
lock stitch
lock-up
longbow
long division
long-standing
look-alike
lookout
low-brow
lowdown
low gear
Suffixes
—lent creates an adjective similar to —ful, meaning more of the same.
repellent, violent, virulent
—less creates an adjective or adverb from a noun or a verb to indicate a lack or freedom from something.
childless, fearless, sugarless
restless, sleepless, tireless
—let something little; a diminutive.
booklet, piglet, owlet
—like creates an adjective from a noun to indicate similarity. Use a hyphen for words ending in —l and for unusual combinations.
childlike, ladylike, saintlike, warlike
bowl-like, shell-like
pavement-like, umbrella-like
—ling something little; a diminutive.
sapling, yearling
—lith denotes a kind of stone or rock.
megalith, monolith, otolith
—lithic creates an adjective from a noun ending in —lith.
palaeolithic [UK], paleolithic [US]
—logic, —logical creates an adjective from a noun ending in —logy.
geologic
biological, theological
—logist creates a noun indicating a person working in a profession studying something that ends in —ogy.
mammalogist, microbiologist, zoologist
—logue, —log creates a noun indicating talk. [The —log ending is US English.]
dialogue, prologue
dialog [US]
—logue, —log creates a noun indicating the compilation of something.
catalogue, travelogue
catalog [US]
—logy about how something is spoken or expressed; discourse.
neology, phraseology
—logy, —ology a study, discipline, or science.
mammalogy
biology, dermatology
—long describes something of great duration or breadth, or a success.
along, belong, furlong, oblong
—ly creates an adverb from an adjective to indicate the manner or the degree of something.
exactly, honestly, slowly
—ly creates an adjective from a noun to indicate the quality of something.
dryly, girly, manly
—ly creates an adjective from a noun to denote that something occurs at intervals of time.
annually, daily, hourly, yearly
—lysis creates a noun denoting a cutting up, disintegration or decomposition. The plural of these words is generally —lyses.
analysis, hydrolysis
—lytic creates an adjective for words ending in —lysis.
analytic, electrolytic
Exercises
- Use the suffixes and prefixes to make simple words longer and then use them in a sentence. Do you know the meaning of each word? If not, go to the dictionary.
Special reading assignment
- Ladies in London like Latin lovers.
- The lion, an African cat species and a popular zoo animal, might eat a South American llama, if given a chance.
