Affixes  

An affix is an element that is added to a base word or root to create a new or inflected form. The most common affixes are prefixes, which attach to the beginning of a base or root word, and suffixes, which attach to the end. We’ll briefly cover both of these here, but you can continue on to their individual sections to learn more.

There are also a number of other, less common affixes that are used in English, which we’ll look at further on.

A prefix is a group of letters that is added to the beginning of a root or base word to change its meaning in a sentence. Prefixes are never inflectional—that is, they do not change the grammatical function of a word without changing its basic meaning. Instead, prefixes are only ever derivational, serving to create new words with unique meanings.

Prefixes generally do not affect the spelling of the root word to which they are attached, but we do sometimes have to alter the prefix itself depending on the spelling of the word it precedes. For example, the prefix in- can change to ig- (before n-), il- (before l-), im- (before b-, m-, or p-), or ir- (before r-).

In addition, many prefixes are only able (or only tend) to attach to certain parts of speech. For example, the prefix un- (meaning “not”) generally only attaches to adjectives, as in unhappy or uncomfortable; when un- means “to do the opposite of,” it only attaches to verbs, as in uncork or unlock. Attaching un- to a noun, on the other hand, is usually not done—for instance, unbuilding or unsky are incorrect.

Let’s briefly look at some common prefixes one might encounter:

A suffix is a group of letters that is added onto the end of a base or root word to change its meaning. Unlike prefixes, which can only be derivational (forming a new word with a unique meaning), suffixes can be either derivational or inflectional (meaning that the grammatical function of the word is changed, but its basic meaning is not).

Inflectional suffixes can be applied to nouns (to form plurals), adjectives and adverbs (to form comparatives and superlatives), and verbs (to indicate tense and grammatical person). In some cases, the same suffix may be used with different parts of speech to create different types of inflection. For example:

(*These words function either as adjectives or adverbs, depending on their use. Those without an asterisk only function as adjectives.)

While there is only a limited number of inflectional suffixes, there is a huge amount of derivational suffixes. These can create a word with a new meaning that belongs to the same part of speech, but, in many cases, derivational suffixes end up changing the part of speech of the word altogether.

We’ll look at a lot more of these in the section on Suffixes, but let’s look at some common ones here.

Suffixes that form nouns most often attach to verbs, but some attach to adjectives or even other nouns. For example:

Derivational suffixes that create verbs attach to nouns and adjectives:

Derivational suffixes that create adjectives usually attach to nouns; much less often, they attach to verbs. For example:

By far the most common and well-known suffix that creates adverbs by attaching to adjectives is “-ly.” However, there are two others derivational suffixes that form adverbs: “-ways/-wise” and “-ward.” For example:

While prefixes and suffixes are by far the most common types of affixes in English, there are a few others that appear less often: interfixes, simulfixes, circumfixes, infixes, and suprafixes. Some of these are like prefixes and suffixes, in that they attach a new letter or letters to an existing base word or root to create a new term; others function by changing a letter within a word, or by changing the pronunciation of a word.

An interfix (also known as a linking element) is a single letter (usually a vowel, and especially O) that doesn’t have specific meaning in itself, but instead acts as a connector between different words, roots, or word-forming elements.

For example:

There are also a number of informal, colloquial, or humorous terms that writers sometimes coin by using an interfix with a noun and familiar ending to mimic the structure of standard words. For example:

A simulfix is a letter or group of letters that changes within a word (rather than being added to it) to indicate a shift in grammatical meaning. The most common of these occur in nouns that have irregular plural forms or verbs with irregular conjugations. For example:

Circumfixes are word elements that appear at both the end and beginning of a base word, usually forming transitive verbs. There are only a few words that could be said to feature circumfixes in English:

Infixes are words or word elements that appear within a base word, usually separated by hyphens. There are no “true” infixes in English; instead, they are all formed colloquially in speech and writing, typically for the sake of adding emphasis to a word.

Most commonly, infixes are used with words that have more than two syllables, and they usually consist of expletives (curse words) or minced oaths (euphemistic expressions meant to represent expletives without using the actual words).

For example:

A suprafix (sometimes called a superfix) is unique among affixes in that it refers to a change in a word’s pronunciation to indicate a difference in grammatical function and meaning, rather than a change in spelling. The name comes from the term suprasegmental, which refers to speech sounds like stress and pitch rather than those related to the pronunciation of letters.

Most often, suprafixes occur with words that can function as either a noun or a verb. For example: