As in many other languages, Irish adds prefixes to words to create new words. Becoming familiar with the prefixes below is an easy way to increase your vocabulary. Note that some prefixes are separated from the base word by a hyphen, and some prefixes cause lenition.


ain-

in-, un-, not-, over-

Examples: ceart (right) becomes aincheart (unjust), fios (knowledge) becomes ainfhiosracht (over-curious).


an-

very

Example: maith (good) becomes an-mhaith (very good).


ath-

re-

Example: déan (do, make) becomes athdéan (redo, remake).


ceann-

chief, main, -headed

Example: litir (letter) becomes ceannlitir (capital letter).


comh-

mutual, joint

Example: ceol (music) becomes comh-ceol (harmony).


dea-

good, well

Example: scéal (news, story) becomes dea-scéal (piece of good news).


déarg-

red-, real, utter

Example: gráin (hatred) becomes dearg-ghráin (intense hatred).


dé-

bi-, di-, two-

Example: taobh (side) becomes déthaobhach (bilateral).


dí-

de-, dis-, in-, un-

Example: scéal (news, story) becomes díscéil (uninformative).


do-

in-, un-, not-

Example: déanta (done, complete) becomes dodhéanta (impossible, hard to do).


il-

many, multi-

Example: eochair (key) becomes ileochair (master key).


in-

capable of

Example: creidte (believed) becomes inchreidte (believable).


lán-

total

Example: cead (permission) becomes lánchead (full permission).


réamh-

pre-, preliminary

Example: feiceáil (seeing) becomes reamhfheiceáil (foresight).


mion-

small, micro-

Example: insint (telling) becomes mioninsint (detailed report).


sár-

exceeding, ultra-

Example: riail (rule) becomes sár-riail (golden rule).


ró-

over-

Example: minic (often) becomes ro-mhinic (too often).


so-

easy

Example: briste (broken) becomes so-bhriste (fragile, easily broken).


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