ENGLISH AFFIXES

Roots and Affixes

How words are created

Affixes
• Affixes can be divided into two categories:

prefixes (appear at the beginning of words) and
suffixes (appear at the end of words).

Common Prefixes

Common Suffixes

Bi-

two

-al adjectival suffix

Anti-

against

-fy

verb suffix

Inter-

between

-ic

adjectival suffix

Pre-

before

-ion

noun suffix

Super-

above

-ism

noun suffix

Trans-

across

-ize

verb suffix

Dis-

not

-ous

adjectival suffix

Check it out

Roots

Affixes

Latin Root: tang,
meaning “touch”

Prefix: in-, meaning
“not”

Greek Root: chrome,
meaning “color”

Suffix: -ible, meaing
“able to”

Meaning

• The meaning of a word is related to the meaning

of its word parts.

• To unlock the meaning of an unfamiliar word,

break the word down into its component parts;
then think about the meaning of the word’s
affixes and root.

Apply

• For example one could analyze the word

intangible, using the chart shown previously.

• First break the word into its parts:
PREFIX ROOT SUFFIX ENGLISH WORD

In-

+ tang + -ible = intangible

Tang

is a latin roots meaning “touch”

In-

is a prefix meaning “not”

-ible is a suffix meaning “able to”

• Types of affixes
• Prefix: this is added before the root or stem of

the word. E.g. unpredictable, unresponsive,
revitalize, etc.

• Suffix: a suffix is an affix that is attached to the

end of a root or stem. E.g. the plural formatives,
-s, -en, -ing, -d, -er, -est, and –less, -ment, -ion,
etc.

Affixation
an affix is a bound morpheme that is joined before,
after or within a root or stem.

• Derivational
• Derivational is an adjective that refers to the

formation of a new word from another word
through derivational affixes.

• In English, both prefixes and suffixes are

derivational.

• Inflectional
• Inflectional is an adjective that refers to the

formation of a new form of the same word
through inflectional affixes.

• In English, only suffixes are inflectional.

Derivation of Nouns

• Verb  Noun

speak speaker
swim swimming
read reader/ reading

Adjective Noun

kind kindness
good goodness
black blackness

Noun Noun

mother motherhood
sense  non-sense

Derivation of Nouns

• Apart from these process we can also add

suffixes such as –hood (status), -ship (state or
condition), -ness(quality, state or condition) , -
ity (state or condition), -ment (result or product
of doing the action), -al (act of sth), -er
(agentive), in the words like brotherhood,
friendship, wildness, sincerity, government,
refusal, walker etc.

Derivation of Adjective

• Noun  Adjective

master masterly
brother brotherly

• Verb  adjective

read readable
love loveable

• Adjective to adjective

common uncommon
possible  impossible

Derivation of Adjective

•We also have some suffixes which are used to form

adjective such as
–less (without),
-ful (having),
-ic (pertaining to),
-al (pertaining to or of the kind)

•in the words like, powerless, colorless, powerful,

democratic, medicinal, etc.

•There are also some prefixes which are used to derive

adjective:
-in (inaccuracy),
-im (improper) etc.

Derivation of Verbs

• Noun  Verb

analysis analyze
slave enslave

• Adjective verb

rich  enrich
legal  legalize

• Verb verb

continue discontinue
pack  unpack

Derivation of Verbs

• Prefixes used for deriving verbs

-re (revisit),
-en (encage)

• Suffixes used for deriving verbs

-ize (nationalize, sympathize),
-fy (codify, modify)

Word Parts

• There are two kinds of word parts: roots and

affixes.

• A root is a word part that comes from another

language, such as Greek or Latin.

• An affix is a word part that can be attached to

either a root or a base word to create a new
word.

Verb

Verb

Suffix

Adj

Suffix

Short

{en}

{Past}

Shortened

Noun

Noun

Suffix

Verb

Suffix

Teach

{er}

{Plural}

Teachers

Adj

Prefix

Adj

Verb

Suffix

{enjoy}

{able}

Un

Unenjoyable

un-

combine

-able

-ity

Prefix

V

suffix

suffix

Adj

Adj

N

22

uncombinability

un-

co-

oper

-ate

-ive

-ly

uncooperatively

Af Af

Root

Af

Af

Af

V

V

Adj

23

Adj

Adv

operate
operable
opera

/oper/ is a bound
root

Adj

Prefix

Adj

Noun

Suffix

{ethics}
{al}

{Un}

Unethical

Adj

Adj

Suffix

Prefix

Adj

{Un}

{happy}
{est}

Unhappiest

Adj

Prefix

Adj

Verb

Suffi
x

{read}

{able}

{Un}

Unreadable

Try out

•Denationalization

•Transubstantiation

•Unputdownable

•Disestablishmentarianism

•Unfathomable

•Decolonization

•Incomprehensibility

•Uncopyrightable