Prefix · new / revival of
Signals something new or a revival of something earlier: neologism, neoclassical, neonatal.
Written by Bryan López, English teacher · Updated
Neo- comes from Greek "neos" (new, recent) and signals that something is new or a revived version of something earlier: neologism = a new word or new use of an existing word; neoclassical = reviving the style of ancient Greece and Rome; neonatal = relating to the newborn (neo = new + natal = of birth); neo-Gothic = a revival of medieval Gothic architecture in the nineteenth century.
In political and philosophical discourse, neo- signals a movement that revives or reinterprets earlier ideas with a modern perspective: neoliberalism = a modern revision of nineteenth-century liberal ideas (emphasis on free markets); neoconservatism = a political movement that reinterpreted conservatism in the 1970s-80s; neo-Marxism = a reinterpretation of Marxism adapted to contemporary contexts.
Attaches to nouns and adjectives. Identical in Spanish and English:
Pronunciation: /ˈniːəʊ/. Identical in Spanish and English. Hyphenated when preceding a proper noun: neo-Gothic, neo-Marxism.
neo-/ˈniːəʊ/
Tap the button to hear how the prefix sounds. Each word in the table has its own audio.
A neologism can be a completely new word ("selfie," "blog") or a new use of an existing word (using "impact" as a verb: "this will impact the results"). Neologisms are always in process: once fully accepted into the language, they are no longer considered new.
"Neoclassical" covers music (Haydn, Mozart, and also twentieth-century composers like Stravinsky in his neoclassical period), literature (Pope, Dryden), philosophy, and architecture (many eighteenth- and nineteenth-century government buildings). It is a broad stylistic and intellectual category.
A trick to remember it
Neo- = "new" or "revival of": neologism = a new word, neoclassical = a revival of classical style, neonatal = relating to the newborn, neoliberalism = a modern revision of liberalism. Identical in Spanish and English. Fun fact: "neon" comes from neo- because it was the "new" noble gas discovered in 1898.
Exercise 1 · Form the word
Exercise 2 · Pick the right one
"The parliament building was designed in a ___ style, with grand columns inspired by ancient Greek temples."
Exercise 3 · Pick the right one
Why is the noble gas "neon" named as it is?
The prefix neo- signals something new or a revival of something earlier: neologism, neoclassical, neonatal. In Spanish it usually maps to neo-.
The prefix neo- is pronounced /ˈniːəʊ/. For example, "neologism".
"logism" becomes "neologism". It is a typical example of the neo- prefix.
Signals the first of its kind, the original, or a primitive version: prototype, protocol, protagonist.
Signals something false or pretending to be what it is not: pseudonym, pseudoscience, pseudocode.
Signals backward movement or reference to the past: retroactive, retrospective, retrofit, retrograde.
un-, re-, pre-, dis-, over-, in-... every beginning you need to unlock thousands of English words at once.