Learn English – Usage of “UN” Prefix

prefixesword-usage

Is it natural to say "Unparse"? Sounds scratchy, and weird, but I've seen such kind of words…

  • Is it normal to put un before to any word to make it opposite?

  • And if a word can't take un as a prefix, how can we render such word to mean its reverse or reversing, opposite, not, etc., as un normally does?

Best Answer

Affixes, like "un-", can be analysed in terms of how easily it is to form new word using them. Some are generally non-productive, for example "epi-" meaning "on" is a nonproductive prefix: You can't use "epidesk" and expect anyone to know what you are talking about.

On the other hand "anti-" is very productive. If someone is strongly opposed to (for example) fish, that person is anti-fish. It's a weird meaning, but everyone would know what you mean, in context.

On this scale, "un-" is somewhere in the middle. Many verbs adjectives can form a negative using "un-". If the verb describes a process, then the the un-verb means the reversal of that process, and can be used in new coinages. "Unparse" could be understood.

However before making a new word, you should consider the alternatives. Parsing is the process of breaking a sentence down and identifying the role played by each word. The opposite would be "constructing" a sentence. Perhaps this is a better word to use.

[The google chrome grammar and spell checker considers epidesk to be a misspelling, whereas it only suggests non-productive in place of nonproductive, indicating how productive the the prefix "non-" is. It allows antifish without comment.]

Related Topic