Affixation is building up words by adding affixes to the main component of the word. Depending on whether the affix is attached to the beginning of the word or the end of the word, we will have either prefixes, infixes (rarely used in English) or suffixes.
1) Prefixes
A prefix is placed at the beginning of a word to modify or change its meaning. This is a list of the most common prefixes in English uploaded in this blog (
click here to download), together with their basic meaning and some examples. You can find more detail or precision for each prefix in any good dictionary. The origins of words are extremely complicated.
2) Infixes
An infix is an affix inserted inside a stem (an existing word). It contrasts with adfix, a rare term for an affix attached to the end of a stem, such as a prefix or suffix.
None of the following are recognized in standard English.
- The infix ‹iz› or ‹izn› is characteristic of hip-hop slang, for example hizouse for house and shiznit for shit. Infixes also occur in some language games.
- "Fucking" and "bloody" are sometimes used as expletive infixes, as in "un-fucking-believable" or "abso-bloody-lutely". These can also be considered instances of tmesis rather than infixes.
- The ‹ma› infix, whose location in the word is described in Yu (2004), gives a word an ironic pseudo-sophistication, as in sophistimacated, saxomaphone, and edumacation.
3) Suffixes
A suffix is a letter or a group of letters attached to the end of a word to form a new word or to alter the grammatical function of the original word. For example, the verb read can be made into the noun reader by adding the suffix -er; read can be made into the adjective readable by adding the suffix -able.
Understanding the meanings of the common suffixes can help us deduce the meanings of new words that we encounter. The table in the files (click here to download) defines and illustrates 26 common suffixes.(taken from some sources)
