6 exercises — practise the meanings of re-, de-, micro-, over-, pre-, and un- with real IT examples: refactor, decouple, microservice, overengineer, prefetch.
0 / 11 completed
1 / 11
What does the prefix "re-" mean in "refactor", "redeploy", and "revert"?
re- = "again" or "back to a previous state"
• refactor — restructure existing code without changing its external behaviour (do the structuring again, better) • redeploy — deploy again (often after a fix) • revert — go back to a previous state ("revert the commit", "revert to version 2.1") • rollback — back to a previous working version (rollback is roll + back, but functionally similar) • replay — replay events (event sourcing) • retry — try again (retry logic, retry with exponential backoff)
Note: "refactor" is not "re-factor" in standard use — it is one word. The prefix meaning is embedded but the word functions as a single unit.
2 / 11
What does "decouple" mean in software architecture?
de- = remove or reverse — "decouple" means reduce or remove tight coupling between components. The prefix de- appears in many IT terms:
• decouple — make components independent ("decouple the UI from the data layer") • deprecate — de + precate (from Latin praecari, to pray for) — formally mark as obsolete • debug — de + bug — remove bugs • deserialise — de + serialise — convert from a serialised format back to an object • deallocate — de + allocate — free allocated memory • decompress — de + compress — reverse compression
Tight coupling = changing one component requires changing others. Decoupling = components can evolve independently, which improves maintainability.
3 / 11
What does "microservice" mean, and what does the prefix "micro-" indicate in IT?
micro- = small, fine-grained, single-purpose
• microservice — a small, independently deployable component of a larger application, each with a single bounded responsibility ("the payments microservice", "the notifications microservice") • microbenchmark — a benchmark for a tiny, isolated piece of code (as opposed to benchmarking the whole system) • microcontroller — a compact processor with integrated memory and I/O, used in embedded systems • micro-optimisation — optimising a very small piece of code, often at the cost of overall readability
Contrast with "monolith" (single deployable unit) and "macro" (large-scale). Note: "micro-optimisation" is sometimes used pejoratively — optimising tiny pieces while ignoring the bigger architectural bottleneck.
4 / 11
What does "overengineer" mean?
over- = more than necessary, excessive
• overengineer — design a system more complex or generalisable than the current problem requires ("don't overengineer this; we just need a simple script") • overload — load more than capacity; also: method overloading in OOP (defining a function multiple times with different signatures) • overwrite — write over existing data • override — in OOP, providing a new implementation of a parent class method in a subclass • overfitting — in ML, a model fitting training data too closely and failing to generalise
Contrast with under-: • underprovisioned — not enough resources allocated • underfitting — a model too simple to capture patterns in the data
5 / 11
What does "pre-" mean in "prefetch", "preload", and "preprocess"?
pre- = before, in advance
• prefetch — retrieve data before it is explicitly requested, anticipating future need ("the browser prefetches the next page") • preload — load a resource before it is needed ("preload the hero image via ") • preprocess — process input before the main operation ("preprocess the CSV before importing") • provision → pre-provision — set up infrastructure before it is needed • staging environment is sometimes called a "pre-production" environment • precondition — a condition that must be true before a function runs
Contrast with post-: • post-deployment — after deployment • post-mortem — after the incident (note: written as "postmortem" without hyphen in most tech contexts)
6 / 11
Choose the correct sentence using "un-" negation.
Option B — "unreachable" — the un- prefix combined with a past participle or adjective forms a valid negative: "unreachable code" is a standard software term for dead code that can never be executed.
Common un- words in IT: • unreachable — cannot be reached (unreachable code, unreachable host) • unhandled — not handled (unhandled exception) • unresolved — not resolved (unresolved dependency, unresolved conflict) • untested — not tested (untested code path) • unmaintainable — cannot be maintained
Why the others are wrong: • "undeploying" — the correct form is "rolling back" or "undeploy" is not standard; you "shut down" or "roll back" a deployment • "unscaled" — not standard; use "scaled down" to reduce capacity • "unfetch" — not a word in any context
7 / 11
Sarah from the QA team commented on your pull request:
"The API response is returning a 500 error after you implemented the new authentication flow. It seems like there's an issue with the deauthenticate function."
The prefix 'de-' signifies removal or reversal. In this context, 'deauthenticate' accurately describes temporarily halting a user session for testing – a common practice in API development where a controlled interruption is needed to diagnose issues. Options A and C are incorrect; 'deauthenticate' doesn't imply permanent deletion or complete privilege removal.
8 / 11
During the daily standup, Mark said: "We're using a precompute strategy to reduce latency for user profile queries. It's leveraging a separate service to do the heavy lifting."
The prefix 'pre-' denotes something done beforehand. 'Prefetch', 'preload', and 'preprocess' all relate to performing an operation *before* the primary task occurs to improve efficiency. Option A is incorrect because real-time calculation isn't what 'precompute' means; it's about stored results.
9 / 11
You are reviewing a PR description that reads: "We're implementing a microbatch processing pipeline to handle high volumes of incoming data. This approach allows us to process smaller chunks concurrently."
The prefix 'micro-' signifies smallness. In the context of processing, 'microbatch' accurately describes breaking down large datasets into smaller, manageable chunks for parallel processing. This contrasts with monolithic batches (option A) and single-threaded processing (option D).
10 / 11
David from the architecture team flagged your design:
"Your proposed system seems to be heavily overengineered. You're using a complex caching layer and redundant database connections for a relatively simple API endpoint."
The prefix 'over-' conveys excess. 'Overengineered' accurately describes a system that utilizes more resources or complexity than are actually required – leading to inefficiency and potentially increased costs. Options A and D misrepresent the meaning; it's not about deliberate complexity or future-proofing without current need.
11 / 11
You receive an API response:
{ "status": "200", "data": { "user_id": 123 } }
The documentation states that the 'unverify' endpoint is used to deactivate a user account. What does 'un-' likely mean here?
The prefix 'un-' denotes reversal. In the context of deactivating a user account, 'unverify' indicates reversing the verification process – effectively disabling the account. Option A is incorrect because activation is the opposite of deactivation. Options C and D are completely unrelated to the scenario.
This exercise, "IT Prefixes", tests your understanding of word formation vocabulary and phrasing through 11 multiple-choice questions drawn from real workplace scenarios.
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This exercise has 11 questions. Each one presents a realistic sentence or scenario with multiple-choice options and an explanation once you answer.
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Who is this Word Formation exercise for?
It's designed for IT professionals and learners who want to sound natural discussing word formation topics in English — useful for meetings, documentation, interviews, and day-to-day communication with English-speaking teams.
How is this different from reading a glossary or blog article?
Exercises like this one are active recall drills — you have to choose the correct term or phrasing yourself, which builds retention faster than passively reading a definition.
Where can I find more Word Formation exercises?
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