I just love etymology, which is the study of the history of words. Sometimes you can learn the meaning of the word by looking at its prefixes and that helps a lot when you’re reading in Spanish without a dictionary (ever been through that?).

Here are some very common prefixes in Spanish.

aero-, “aire”, aeropuerto
bio-, “vida”, biología
cosmo-, “universo”, cosmopolita
crono-, “tiempo”, cronómetro
deca-, “diez”, decálogo
demo-, “ pueblo”, democracia
fono-, “ sonido”, fonoteca
foto-, “luz”, fotografia
hecto-, “ciento”, hectómetro
macro-, “grande”, macrocosmo
maxi-, “grande”, máximo
micro-, “pequeño”, microcosmo
multi-, “muchos” , multicentro
neo-, “nuevo”. neófito
omni-, “todo”, omipotente
penta-, “cinco”, pentágono
pluri-, ”varios”, pluricelular
poli -, “muchos”, polifacético
psico-, “mente”, psicoanálisis
seudo-, “falso”, seudónimo
tele-, “lejos”, telescopio

See you next time!