Prefix

They are used as part of the honorific system of speech, and are used as markers for politeness, showing respect for the person or thing they are affixed to, notably also being used euphemistically.

[3][4] In the Bantu languages of Africa, which are agglutinating, the noun class is conveyed through prefixes, which is declined and agrees with all of its arguments accordingly.

[5] ò-mú-límíAG-CL1-farmerò-mú-nénéAG-CL1-fatò-mú-kâddéAG-CL1-oldò-múAG.oneà-∅-gêndahe-PRES-goò-mú-límí ò-mú-néné ò-mú-kâddé ò-mú à-∅-gêndaAG-CL1-farmer AG-CL1-fat AG-CL1-old AG.one he-PRES-goThe one, old, fat farmer goes.Verbs in the Navajo language are formed from a word stem and multiple affixes.

(scolding)As a part of the formation of nouns, prefixes are less common in Russian than suffixes, but alter the meaning of a word.

ge-, on the other hand, expresses union or togetherness, but only in a closed group of words—it cannot simply be added to any noun or adjective.

[10] Verbal prefixes commonly in use are be-, ent-, er-, ge-, miss-, ver-, and zer- (see also Separable verb).

[9][13] The prefix er- is also used to form verbs from adjectives (e.g. erkalten is equivalent to kalt werden which means "to get cold").