AFFIX

In English grammar and morphology, an affix is a word element that can be

attached to a base or root to form a new word or new form of the word, usually
occurring as either a prefix or suffix. Put simply, an affix is a group of letters
that are generally added to the beginning or the end of a root word that can
change the word's meaning.

As their names would entail, prefixes like pre-, re-, and trans- are attached to
the beginnings of words such as predict, reactivate, and transaction,
while suffixes like -ism, -ate, and -ish are attached to the ends of words such as
socialism, eradicate, and childish. In rare cases, an affix may be added to the
middle of a word and is therefore called an infix, which occurs in such words
as cupsful and passersby, where the additional "-s-" affix pluralizes the words
cupful and passerby, thus changing their form.

What Is a Prefix?
A prefix is a letter or group of letters attached to the beginning of a word that
partly indicates its meaning, including such as examples as "anti-" to mean
against, "co-" to mean with, "mis-" to mean wrong or bad, and "trans-" to
mean across.

The most common prefixes in English are those that express negation like "a-"
in the word asexual, "in-" in the word incapable, and "un-" in the word
unhappy. These negations immediately alter the meaning of the words they
are added to, but some prefixes merely change the form. The word prefix itself
contains the prefix pre-, which means before, and the root word fix, which
means to fasten or place. Thus, the word itself means "to place before."

Prefixes are bound morphemes, which means they can't stand alone.
Generally, if a group of letters is a prefix, it can't also be a word. However,
prefixation, or the process of adding a prefix to a word, is a common way
of forming new words in English.

What Is a Suffix?
A suffix is a letter or group of letters added to the end of a word or root—
its base form—serving to form a new word or functioning as
an inflectional ending. The word suffix comes from the Latin, "to fasten
underneath."

There are two primary types of suffixes in English:

  Derivational, such as the addition of "-ly" to an adjective to form
an adverb, indicating what type of word it is.
 Inflectional, such as the addition of "-s" to a noun to form
a plural telling something about the word's grammatical behavior.

An affix is added to the root of a word to change its meaning. An affix added
to the front of a word is known as a prefix. One added to the back is known as
a suffix. Sometimes, prefixes are hyphenated.

A List of Common Prefixes

Here is a list of common prefixes with some examples:
Prefix Meaning Example

a-, an- without amoral, atypical

ante- before antecedent, antenatal

anti- against anti-establishment

auto- self autopilot

circum- around circumvent

co- with co-conspirator, co-pilot

com-, con- with companion, contact

contra- against contradiction

de- off delist, devalue

dis- not disappear

en- put into enclose, envelop

ex- out of, former extract, ex-governor

extra- beyond, more than extracurricular

hetero- different heterosexual

homo- same homonym, homophone

hyper- over, more hyperactive

il-, im-, in-, ir- not, without illegal, impractical, inconsiderate,

irresponsible

in- into insert

inter- between internet, intersection,

intra- inside intranet, intravenous

macro- large macronutrients

micro- small microscope

mono- one monocle

non- not, without nonentity, nonstarter,

omni- all, every omnipresent, omniscient

post- after post-mortem

pre-, pro- before, forward precede, project

sub- under submarine, substandard

syn- same time synchronize

super- above supervisor, superhuman

 trans- across transmit

tri- three tripod, triceratops

un- not undone, unfinished,

uni- one unicorn, unilaterally

A List of Common Suffixes

Here is a list of common suffixes with some examples:
Suffix Meaning Example

-able, -ible can be done comfortable, passable

-al, -ial having the characteristics of personal

-ed past-tense verbs (weak verbs) danced, jumped

-en made of golden, wooden

-er comparative tidier, nicer

-er, -or one who actor, narrator, worker

-est superlative nicest, greatest

-ful full or full of cupful, careful

-ic having characteristics of linguistic, sarcastic

-ing verb form (present participle and dancing, singing

gerund)

-ion, -tion, -ation, act or process attraction, attrition

ition

-ity, -ty state of humility, infinity

-ive, -ative, itive adjective form of a noun expensive, plaintive

-less without topless, fearless

-ly adverb ending nicely, quickly

 -ment action or process enjoyment,
entrenchment

-ness state of, condition of eagerness, kindness

-ous, -eous, -ious possessing the qualities of erroneous, joyous

-s, -es plural tables, foxes

-y characterized by fatty, happy, jumpy

There are good reasons to know about affixes.

Using an affix to reduce the wordcount in your sentence

A word's meaning is changed when an affix is added. Sometimes, you can
exploit this to reduce your wordcount by one or two words and to create a
more flowing text.
 Not aware > unaware
 Not sure > unsure
 Check again > recheck
(Incidentally, be careful with the word recheck. It means to perform a
second check. All too often, it is mistakenly used for a first check.)
 to bake cakes > baking cakes
 a comparison of the data shows > comparing the data shows
In the two examples above, the suffix -ing has been used to create a gerund (a
type of noun that can take an object). Using gerunds is a great way of creating
more succinct, natural-sounding sentences.

Breaking down long words to help with spelling

The word antidisestablishmentarianism (a 19th-century political position
that sought the removal of the Anglican Church's status as the state church
of England, Ireland and Wales) is best known not for what it represents but
for its length (28 letters and 12 syllables). It was not uncommon for school
children in the 80s to ask each other to spell antidisestablishmentarianism,
due to its use in the comedy series "The Young Ones." This was an impossible
task, surely? Well, no. If you break it down into affixes, it's pretty simple.
 Anti-dis-establ-ish-ment-arian-ism
This is well-used technique to help with spelling.
Breaking down long words to help with decoding their meaning
Studying affixes in a word (especially if you know its root) can help with
understanding its meaning.
 disrespectfully breaks down to dis-respect-ful-ly
(Dissecting disrespectfully gets you to something like "not-respect-
full of-adverb," which would lead to something like "done in a manner
that is full of no respect." That's a pretty good clue as its meaning.)
Not useful? Well, try understanding these without dissecting them:
 lonelinesslessness
(With three suffixes, this is the concept of no loneliness.)
 semihemidemisemiquaver
(With four prefixes, this a hundred twenty-eighth note.)
Looking at affixes to ascertain a word's meaning is particularly useful for non-
native speakers. In truth, native speakers do it too, but we do it so quickly, we
often don't realise we're doing it.

(Reason 5) Knowing when to capitalize a prefix

A prefix is not written with a capital letter unless it starts the sentence or is
an integral part of a proper noun.
 Ex-President Smith will meet ex-President Jones later.
(The first prefix (Ex-) starts the sentence, so the capital letter is
correct.)
 Please show me the Baxter Inter-Department Programme.
(The prefix Inter- is part of the proper noun, so the capital letter is
correct.)
 Will you attend this year's anti-Nazi rally?
(The prefix anti- is not part of the proper noun, so the lowercase letter
is correct.)