In Hindi, there are lot of prefixes which can give you some valuable clues about their meaning. Prefix is called उपसर्ग (Upsarg) in Hindi. In this post, I am going to cover ten important prefixes which can be found in numerous Hindi words.

Let’s have a look with some of the examples.

1. अ (A) means नहीं (Nahi – Not) or बिना (Bina – Without)
Examples: अभाव (Abhaav – Scarcity, Absence), अज्ञान (Agyaan – Ignorance), अधर्म (Adharma – Iniquity)

2. अति (Ati) means अधिक (Adhik – More)
Examples: अत्याचार (Atyaachaar – Oppression), अत्याधिक (Atyaadik – Too much) , अत्यंत (Atyant – Extremely)

3. आ (Aa) means तक (Tak – Upto) or पूर्ण (Purnd – Complete) or भर (Bhar – Full)
Examples: आजीवन (Aajeevan – lifelong), आदान (Aadaan – Exchange) , आमरण (Aamarand – Till death)

4. नि (Ni) means अच्छी तरह (Acchi tarah – In a good way)
Examples: निवास (Nivaas – residence), निरोध (Nirodh – Control), निवारण (Nivaaran – Prevention)

5. परि (Pari) means सब ओर (Sab aur – All over )
Examples: परिमाण (Parimaand – Measure ), परिवर्तन (Parivartan – Change), परिक्रमा (Parikrama – Circle)

6. प्र (Pra) means आगे (Aage – Ahead) or ऊपर (Upar – Above) or अधिक (Adhik – More)
Examples: प्रबल (Prabal – Strong), प्रगति (Pragati – Progress), प्रचार (Prachaar – Publicity)

7. वि (Vi) means विशेष (Vishesh – Special) or अलग (Alag – Different) or उल्टा (Ulta – Opposite)
Examples: विदेश (Videsh – Foreign), विभाग (Vibhag – Department), विज्ञान (Vigyan – Science)

8. सु (Su) means अच्छा (Accha – Good/Nice)
Examples: सुफल (Sufal – Good result), सुकर्म (Sukarm – Good deed), सुर्लभ (Surlabh – Easily available)

9. स्व (Sva) means अपना (Apna – Your) or निजी (Niji – Private)
Examples: स्वदेश (Svadesh – Motherland), स्वतंत्र (Svatant – Self-governing), स्वार्थ (Svaarth – Self-interest)

10. स (Sa) means साथ (Sath – With)
Examples: सफल (Safal – Success), सपरिवार (Saparivaar – With family), सक्रिय (Sakriya – Active)