affixes
TRANSCRIPT
by Mr. Ezekiel D. Rodriguez
Parts of aWord
WHAT IS A ROOT?
A root, as its name suggests, is a word or word part from which other words grow, usually through the addition of prefixes and suffixes.
The root of the word vocabulary, for example, is voc, a Latin root meaning "word" or "name." This root also appears in the words advocacy, convocation, evocative, vocal, and vociferous.
EXAMPLES:
ROOT MEANING EXAMPLES
-ast(er)-(G) star asteroid, astronomy
-audi- (L) hear audible, audience
-auto- (G) self automatic, autopsy
-bene- (L) good benefit, benign
-bio- (G) life biography, biology
-chrono- (G) time chronic, synchronize
-dict- (L) say dictate, diction
-duc- (L) lead, make deduce, produce
-gen- (L) give birth gene, generate
MAIN TYPES OF
PrefixSuffix
WHAT ARE ?
A word element – usually a prefix or suffix--that can be attached to a base, stem, or root to form a new word.
WHAT ARE ?
Etymology:
From the Latin Figere, "fasten"
PREFIX
A letter or group of letters attached to the beginning of a word that partly indicates its meaning.
Common prefixes include anti- (against), co- (with), mis- (wrong, bad), and trans-(across).
TYPES OF
Derivational prefixes do not normally alter the word class of the base word; that is, a prefix is added to a noun to form a new noun with a different meaning.
PREFIX
Etymology: From the Latin Praefixum, "to
fasten in front"
PREFIX
During the 1980s, 'mini-' gave way to 'micro-,' which has yielded to 'nano-.' In the new millennium, companies such as Nanometrics, Nanogen and NanoPierce Technologies have all embraced the prefix, despite complaints their products were hardly nano-scale (a billionth of a meter or smaller).
(Alex Boese, "Electrocybertronics," Smithsonian, March 2008)
COMMON PREFIXES
Prefix Meaning Examplea-, an- without amoralante- before antecedentanti- against anticlimaxauto- self autopilot
circum- around circumventco- with copilot
com-, con- with companion, contact
COMMON PREFIXES
contra- against contradict
de- off, away from devalue
dis- not disappearen- put into enclose
ex- out of, former extract, ex-president
extra- beyond, more than extracurricular
hetero- different heterosexualhomo- same homonym
COMMON PREFIXES
intra- between intravenous
macro- large macroeconomics
micro- small microscopemono- one monoclenon- not, without nonentity
omni- all, every omniscientpost- after postmortem
pre-, pro- before, forward
precede, project
COMMON PREFIXES
sub- under submarine
syn- same time synchronize
trans- across transmit
tri- three tricycle
un- not unfinished
uni- one unicorn
SUFFIX
"Gazebo: The name is an 18th-century joke word combining 'gaze' with the Latin suffix 'ebo,' meaning 'I shall.‘”
(Encyclopedia Britannica Online)
TYPES OF
Derivational suffixes, on the other hand, usually change both the meaning and the word class; that is, a suffix is often added to a verb or adjective to form a new noun with a different meaning.
EXAMPLE:
adjective: dark / suffixed noun: darkness
verb: agree / suffixed noun: agreement
noun: friend / suffixed noun: friendship
(Douglas Biber, Susan Conrad, and Geoffrey Leech, Longman Student Grammar of Spoken English, Longman, 2002)
SUFFIX
A letter or group of letters added to the end of a word or stem (i.e., a base form), serving to form a new word or functioning as an inflectional ending.
SUFFIX
Etymology: From the Latin Suffixum, “to
fasten underneath”
COMMON NOUN SUFFIXES
Suffix Meaning Example
-acy state or quality privacy
-al act or process of refusal
-ance, -ence state or quality of
maintenance, eminence
-dom place or state of being
freedom, kingdom
-er, -or one who trainer, protector
-ism doctrine, belief communism
COMMON NOUN SUFFIXES
-ist one who chemist
-ity, -ty quality of veracity
-ment condition of argument
-ness state of being heaviness
-ship position held fellowship
-sion, -tion state of being concession, transition
COMMON VERB SUFFIXES
-ate become eradicate
-en become enlighten
-ify, -fy make or become terrify
-ize, -ise become civilize
COMMON ADJECTIVE SUFFIXES
-able, -ible capable of being edible, presentable
-al pertaining to regional
-esque reminiscent of picturesque
-ful notable for fanciful
-ic, -ical pertaining to musical, mythic
-ious, -ous characterized by nutritious, portentous
-ish having the quality of fiendish
-ive having the nature of creative
-less without endless
-y characterized by sleazy