40 Numerical Affixes
English makes use of both Greek and Latin prefixes to express numbers or quantities. Below is a list of the most common of these.
Prefix |
Meaning |
Example |
uni- | one | unicycle |
mono- | one | monoplane |
bi- | two | bilingual |
di- | two | dioxide |
tri- | three | tripod: having 3 legs |
quad- | four | quadruped: four-footed animal |
quint- | five | quintuplets: five babies born at one birth |
penta- | five | pentagon: figure with five sides |
hex- | six | hexapod: having six legs |
sex- | six | sextet: group of six musicians |
sept- | seven | septennial |
hept- | seven | heptagonal |
oct- | eight | octogenarian |
non | nine | nonagenarian |
dec- | ten | decade |
cent- | hundred | century |
hecto- | hundred | hectogram:100 grams |
milli- | thousand | millennium |
kilo- | thousand | kilogram: 1,000 grams |
mega- | million or large | megaton: one million tons |
giga- | billion | gigawatt: one billion watts |
multi- | many | multinational |
poly- | many | polygon |
ambi- | both or double | ambidextrous |
omni- | all | omnipotent |
semi-
hemi |
half
half |
semisweet
hemisphere |