The Powerful Prefix

Oh, those amazing parts of words that have such an impact on meaning! There’s the potent con which when added to a root word turns it into something happening together such as confluence… as in the meeting of two rivers which then flow in unity as one. Or there’s the edgy anti which signals some sort of opposition at work… as in an anti-inflammatory drug laboring to counteract swelling. And we’re all familiar with the two letters which jump in front of a word and turn it into a not: un… as in unkind or unfair or unreal or unjust, making something or someone kind, fair, real, and just not. Those negative descriptors could be applied to much of our world today, unfortunately!

The prefix is a powerful little linguistic device, isn’t it? We regularly enjoy the benefits of re when we hope to do an activity again such as return or renew or reacquaint. And we often delight in leaping ahead with a pre such as with a sneak preview or a skim through a preface. Perhaps a potentially unappreciated yet powerful prefix is im which, like its cousin un renders its host word a not. These two have additional cousins we all know: il and ir and in. Certain things are simply impossible for us humans and so, much in our lives hangs in the realm of improbability. Most of us seek to avoid illegal activities although we all have our irrational propensities while we journey toward our inevitable end. What fun it is to play with prefixes!

But then again, the reality they reflect can be challenging. Few of us warm up to the notion that certain things are not possible for us while we walk this earth. We go about with a “can-do” attitude. We’ll improvise, compromise, reinvent, channel our inner Don Quixote (remember that he dreamed the impossible dream?), and do most anything from every angle to have our way with life. Giving up, giving in, giving way, and sometimes just plain old giving are not ingredients in our preferred modus opperandi. We’ve readily subscribed to the assertion that what doesn’t kill us makes us stronger… and strong is what we want to be.

Yet we often get tangled up about what constitutes strength and how to get to it. So many people and systems strive for it through un and dis and ir… unjustly through disregard for others irrespective of their plight. Do we lose sight of con along the way? Congregating around values that bring consensus and foster connective efforts for the benefit of others? Prefixes point us in one direction or the other! Which way will have its way with us today?