IN- appears in English words in the forms of ig-, il-, im-, ir-, and en-.
The most frequent meaning of IN- is "not"; for example, illegal, impassable, inescapable, inadvisable, and irregular.
When one INFLATES a balloon, one blows gas or air into it.
To ILLUMINATE a portrait is to throw light upon it.
An IMMIGRANT is someone who, on reaching the shores or the frontier of a country, migrates into that country.
INOFFENSIVE means not offensive.
INOPPORTUNE means not opportune.
Also: inclose, enclose, imbibe, import, incarcerate, inflect, inherit, inquire, inspire, irrigate, intrude.
Also: (in- having the sense of "not") ignore, illiterate, immaculate, inequality, irrational, and hundreds of others.
SPELLING: Notice the double letter of illuminate, immigrant, illegal, illegitimate, irrigate, immaculate, irregular, and so on, when the N of IN- changes to the same letter as the initial letter of the word with which it is combining.
