Anglo-Saxon or English Prefixes.

      A  signifies at, to, on, in; as ahead, that is, at the head; afield, to the field; aground, on the ground; abed, in bed.

      Be-,  prefixed to a verb, signifies about, near, upon, over, for, and it converts an intransitive verb into a transitive one; thus speak and think become bespeak and bethink.  It often serves to form verbs from nouns or other verbs; as, becalm, befriend.  In a preposition or a conjunction, be- has the force of by or in; thus, because, conj., signifies by the cause of; behind, prep., in the rear of.

      En- (em before b, p or m) converts an adjective or noun into a verb; as, embalm, endear, enslave, enshrine.  Its meanings are in, on into; also, to make, to surround; as, enrich, to make rich; embrace, to surround with the arms.

      For- or fore- (from the German ver-, and not related to fore in foresee, etc., but implying that the action indicated by the simple verb is negatived, or else done in a bad sense); as, forbid, to bid not; forbear, (Ger. verloren); forget, to away-get—i.e., to lose from memory; forego, to go from—i.e., to resign.

      Fore- (= Lat. præ or pro, before, etc.) denotes in front of, going or coming first; as, forenoon, the fore part of the day; foretell, to tell beforehand.

      Gain-  (Ger. gegen, root of against), against; as gainsay, to speak against.

      Mis-, amiss, error or defect, wrong; as, misplace, to put in a wrong place; misapply, to apply wrongly; misbegotten, begotten amiss.

      N-, not; as, neither, not either; never, not ever.

      Off, from; as, offspring, descended from.

      Out, excess or superiority, from, off, beyond; as, outburst, a bursting from; outbid, to bid beyond; outrun, to run beyond.

      Over, above or beyond; as, overdo, to do more than enough; overreach, to reach beyond.

      Re- (a Latin prefix, but naturalized), again; as, retouch, to touch again; rebuild, to build again.

      To-, the or this; as, to-day, this day; to-morrow, the morrow.

      Un-, not (with adjectives); as unwise, unkind.  It is rarely formed with nouns; as, unrest, unreason.  In the case of verbs un- is not merely a negative, but implies the reversal of an act already done; as, unroll, untwist.  It answers to the German ent-.

      Under signifies, as a prefix, beneath, below, lower in a rank or degree; as underrate, underling.

      Up denotes motion upward; as uplift, to lift up; rest in a higher place, as uphold; sometimes subversion, as upset.

      With- (Ger. wider, "against;"  Anglo-Saxon with, not the modern preposition with) denotes opposition, privation, from or against; as, withstand, to stand against; withdraw, to retire from; angry with, i.e., "angry against."  (The word withal is from the prep. with, and all.)