The Meanings of Prefix “Over”

Abstract

The rules of word formation undergo changes from day to day. Prefixes become productive or lose their productivity. The aim of this paper is to examine the various meanings of prefix over- in English. Although it has its specific distinct meaning which is 'excessive' or too much, it can also imply other meanings. The prefix over- is used to form many different words, so it is very productive in constantly forming new words. Some of the words with over- represent recent coinages and some are very old dating back to the 16th century.