Prefix · intensity · down/against
Means "down," "against," or "completely": catastrophe, catalyst, catalog, cataclysm, catapult.
Written by Bryan López, English teacher · Updated
Cata- comes from the Greek kata, which means "down", "against" or "completely". Its exact sense changes with the word, but it always has a feeling of force or intensity. You will find it in some of the most expressive words in English.
Before a vowel, cata- drops its last letter and becomes cat-, so some words look different even though they share the same root. Cata- tends to carry a sense of force or finality, which is why many of its words describe big, dramatic events, from natural disasters to sweeping changes. Even when a word looks technical, many of them show up in everyday news.
Attaches to Greek roots to signal downward direction, opposition, or thorough action:
Pronunciation: /ˈkætə/. The variant cat- appears before vowels: cataract, catacomb, catalogue.
cata-/ˈkætə/
Tap the button to hear how the prefix sounds. Each word in the table has its own audio.
"Cata-" and "cat-" are the same Greek root "kata." Before consonants: cata- (catastrophe, catalyst, catapult). Before vowels: cat- (cataract, catacomb, catalogue). The same phonological rule operates in other Greek-derived prefixes. Once you know it is always cata-, the vocabulary group becomes much more recognisable.
A trick to remember it
Picture something crashing downward with force: cata- = down, or completely. catastrophe, catalog (a complete list).
Exercise 1 · Form the word
Exercise 2 · Pick the right one
What does "cataclysm" mean?
The prefix cata- means "down," "against," or "completely": catastrophe, catalyst, catalog, cataclysm, catapult.
The prefix cata- is pronounced /ˈkætə/. For example, "catastrophe".
"strophe" becomes "catastrophe". It is a typical example of the cata- prefix.
un-, re-, pre-, dis-, over-, in-... every beginning you need to unlock thousands of English words at once.