dis

apart, away

Spelled dis · dis- 'apart, away, not'

Latin dis- pulled things apart: discord splits hearts, discern separates choices, and distortion twists something away from its proper shape.

Words built from it

discern — to perceive or recognize clearly
dis- (apart) + cern (separate)
discord — disagreement or conflict
dis- (apart) + cord (heart)
disdain — a feeling that something is unworthy of respect
dis- (not) + dain (worthy)
dispose — to get rid of, or to arrange
dis- (apart) + pose (place)
disparage — to speak of in a negative way
dis- (down) + parage (rank)
distinguish — to recognize a difference between things
dis- (apart) + stingu (prick, mark)
distort — to twist out of natural shape
dis- (away) + tort (twist)

dismal — from Latin dies mali 'evil days' — the dis- is just the start of 'dies' (day), unrelated to the dis- prefix meaning apart/away/not.
discipline — from Latin discipulus 'pupil', from discere 'to learn' — the dis- is part of the verb stem, not the separable apart/away prefix.