The prefix sub- can be traced back to the Latin preposition sub, meaning “under.” Some words beginning with sub- that came into English from Latin include submerge, suburb, and subvert. When sub- is used to form words in English, it can mean “under” (submarine, subsoil, subway), “subordinate” (subcommittee, subplot, subset), or “less than completely” (subhuman, substandard). Sub- can form compounds by combining with verbs as well as with adjectives and nouns, as in subdivide, sublease, and sublet.
