There’s nothing exciting about regular, usual, and normal. But add -ir, -un, or -ab, and suddenly a heartrate becomes concerning, a mole needs to be watched, and a relationship is questionable.

There’s nothing regular, usual, or normal about these prefixes; each means ‘not,’ but none are the same.

irregular, irusual, irnormal

unregular, unusual, unnormal 

abregular, abusual, abnormal 

English is very irregular, extremely unusual, and highly abnormal.

Written for Fandango’s One Word Challenge (FOWC): March 11, 2023; Irregular