LoginAffixes
In this lesson you will learn how prefixes and suffixes can change a word's meaning or part of speech. Practice with examples and exercises to improve your skills.
What Does Affix Mean?
Affixes are groups of letters that are added to the beginning or ending of a word to change its meaning or part of speech.
Affixes: Types
There are different groups of affixes. Some of the most common ones are:
Prefix: appears at the beginning of a word or stem.
Suffix: appears at the end of a word or stem.
Prefixes
A prefix is a group of letters that is added to the beginning of a word (nouns, adjectives, verbs, etc.) to change their meaning and use.
There are many prefixes in the English language. In the table below, you can see some of the most common ones with examples:
Meaning | Examples | |
|---|---|---|
un- | not | unhappy, unfair |
sub- | under | subway, subsection |
pre- | before | prefix, prehistory |
dis- | not, opposite of | dislike, disappear |
mis- | wrongly | misuse, misunderstand |
re- | again, back | return. rebirth |
anti- | opposed to | antivirus, anticlimax |
in- | not, without | insecure, inability |
il- | not, without | illegal, illogical |
ex- | former, out of | exhale, ex-wife |
Notes about Prefixes
Here are some tips to remember about using prefixes:
1. When a prefix is added to a word, the spelling of the root of word never changes.
happy → unhappy
As you can see in the examples, the prefix 'un-' did not change the spelling of the word 'happy'.
legal → illegal
2. If the last letter of the prefix is the same as the first letter of the root, double letters are possible and there is no need to remove one of them..
mobilize → immobilize
As you can see in this example, when you add the prefix 'im-' to words that begin with the same letter, you do not remove any of the letters.
natural → unnatural
3. Some prefixes in English have similar meanings, such as 'un-', 'in-', and 'non-' all of which mean 'not'.
stop → nonstop
stoppable → unstoppable
secure → insecure
4. Be careful with words that look like they have a prefix, but in fact, do not.
uncle
reach
relative
Suffixes
A suffix consists of a group of letters that are added to the end of the root of a word to change its meaning and use.
There are many suffixes in the English language. In the table below, you can see some of the most common ones with their examples:
Meaning | Examples | |
|---|---|---|
-ful | full of | beautiful, colorful |
–ness | forming a noun | sadness, madness |
-ly | forming an adverb | lovely, slowly |
-less | without | effortless, meaningless |
-able | able to | washable, comfortable |
-ing | forming a gerund | caring, interesting |
-ed | forming a past participle | excited, bearded |
-ous | forming a noun | dangerous, nervous |
-ment | forming a noun | development, government |
-ion | forming a noun | election, attention |
Notes about Suffixes
Here are some tips to remember about using suffixes:
1. Some suffixes have more than one meaning, such as the suffix -er.
teacher
Here, the suffix -er means ' someone or something that does an action'.
worker
slower
As you can see, the suffix -er can also compare adjectives and adverbs together.
faster
2. Sometimes, when a suffix is added to a word, the spelling of the root of word changes, especially when the root of the word ends in the letter 'y' or the silent 'e.'
make → making
crazy → craziness
Warning
This does not apply to all words ending in these letters. With some words, we keep the 'e', as in 'changeable' and 'loveable.'
Word Formation with Affixes
Adding a suffix often changes a word from one part of speech to another.
love (verb) + -able = loveable (adjective)
modern (adjective) + -ize = modernize (verb)
Language is a living thing and every day many words are added to it. People use some prefixes and suffixes to create new words for modern products, concepts, or situations. For example, the prefix, e-, which stands for electronic has formed a number of Internet-related words:
email, e-book, e-broker, e-document
Can We Use Affixes With Any Words?
We cannot add prefixes and suffixes to just any word. Some are only used with specific words.
For example, the suffix '-ful' is added to some nouns to mean 'full of', for example, 'beautiful' or 'graceful'. But, '-ful' cannot be added to any noun. For example, we cannot say 'mistakeful' or 'comfortful.'
Review
Affixes are added to different word classes to make new words with similar or related meanings. There are two kinds of affixes in English. check out the following list.
suffixes
prefixes
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