What Are Affixes?

(with Examples)
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.
Read more about hyphens in prefixes.
Examples of Affixes
Here are some examples of affixes:
incapable
(The affix is the prefix in.)
ex-President
(The affix is the prefix ex-.)
laughing
(The affix is the suffix ing.)
Most Common Prefixes. The four most common prefixes aredis-, in-, re-, and un-. These account for over 95% of prefixed
words.
Most Common Suffixes. The four most common suffixes are-ed, -ing, -ly, and -es. These account for over 95% of suffixed
words.

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 gerund)

dancing, singing

-ion, -tion, -ation, ition

act or process

attraction, attrition

-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

Compounding: In linguistics, a compound is a lexeme (less precisely, a word) that consists of more than one stem.
Compounding, composition or nominal composition is the process of word formation that creates compound lexemes. That is, in
familiar terms, compounding occurs when two or more words are joined to make one longer word.
Shortening: A contraction is a shortened version of the written and spoken forms of a word, syllable, or word group, created by
omission of internal letters and sounds.

Full
form

Contracte
d

not

-n't

let us

let's

Notes

Irregular forms: "ain't", "won't", "shan't", "amn't". "n't" can only be attached to an auxiliary verb which is itself not
contracted.

I am

I'm

are

-'re

we're /wr/ or /wr/ is, in most cases, pronounced differently from were /wr/.

does

-'s

informal, as in "What's he do there every day?"

is
-'s
has

have

-'ve

had

did

-'d

informal, as in "Where'd she go?"

would

will

-'ll

of

o'-

used mostly in o'clock, where it is mandatory in contemporary use

of

o'

as in "cup o' coffee," "barrel o' monkeys," "Land o' Goshen," "lots o' luck"

it

't-

Archaic, except in stock uses such as 'Twas the night before Christmas

them

'em

Actually from hem, which is not the same word as them, a Norse loan.[2][3]

portmanteau word: is a linguistic blend of words, in which parts of multiple words, or their phones (sounds), and their meanings are combined into
a new word.
- The definition overlaps with the grammatical term contraction, but contractions are formed from words that would otherwise appear together in
sequence, such as do and not to make don't, whereas a portmanteau word is formed by combining two or more existing words that all relate to a
singular concept which the portmanteau describes. A portmanteau also differs from a compound, which does not involve the truncation of parts of
the stems of the blended words. For instance, starfish is a compound, not a portmanteau, of star and fish; whereas a hypothetical portmanteau of
star and fish might be stish.
Origin: The word "portmanteau" was first used in this context by Lewis Carroll in the book Through the Looking-Glass (1871),[10] in which Humpty
Dumpty explains to Alice the coinage of the unusual words in Jabberwocky,[11] where "slithy" means "slimy and lithe" and "mimsy" is "miserable
and flimsy." Humpty Dumpty explains the practice of combining words in various ways by telling Alice:
-You see it's like a portmanteauthere are two meanings packed up into one word.
-In his introduction to The Hunting of the Snark, Carroll uses "portmanteau" when discussing lexical selection:
Humpty Dumpty's theory, of two meanings packed into one word like a portmanteau, seems to me the right explanation for all. For instance, take
the two words "fuming" and "furious." Make up your mind that you will say both words, but leave it unsettled which you will say first if you have
the rarest of gifts, a perfectly balanced mind, you will say "frumious."

Abbreviation vs. Acronym

There is a great deal of overlap between abbreviations and acronyms. Every acronym is an abbreviation because the acronym is a shortened form
of a word or phrase. However, not every abbreviation is an acronym, since some abbreviations - those made from words - are not new words
formed from the first few letters of a series of words.

Abbreviation
An abbreviation is a shortened form of a word or phrase, as N.Y. for New York, Mr. for Mister, lb for pound or ctn for carton.
There are millions of common abbreviations used every day.
When you write out your address, most people write "St. or Ave." instead of "street" or "avenue."
When you write the date, you may abbreviate both the day of the week (Mon, Tues., Wed., Thurs., Fri., Sat., and Sun.) and the month of the year
(Jan., Feb., Aug., Sept., Oct., Nov., Dec.).
There are also tons of industry specific abbreviations that you may be unaware of unless you are in the industry, such as medical abbreviations or
dental abbreviations.

Acronym
An acronym, technically, must spell out another word. However, this rule isn't always rigidly enforced:
ASAP is an acronym although the word "asap" is not in many dictionaries. Still, the first letters of each of the words "As Soon As Possible" are used
to form the acronym ASAP.
NY is the acronym for New York. Since this acronym is a shortened version of the phrase, by definition the acronym is also an abbreviation.
Like abbreviations, acronyms are used daily, and most people can interpret the meaning of common acroynms without much thought. For example:
-You go to the ATM instead of to the automatic teller machine
-You give your time zone as EST, CST or PST instead of as Eastern Standard Time, Central Standard Time or Pacific Standard Time.
You use words like BRB (be right back), LOL (laughing out loud), and ROFL (rolling on floor laughing) when texting. These new acronyms were
derived from computer lingo. All of these new acronyms are also abbreviations because they are all shortened versions of phrases that IM-ers were
using frequently. For more information read our Guide to Internet Abbreviations.
Abbreviations and acronyms are shortened versions of words and phrases to speed up our communication. Be sure to use them correctly - since, a
misuse can lead to a big miscommunication.
Conversion
is the word formation process in which a word of one grammatical form becomes a word of another grammatical form without any changes to
spelling or pronunciation. For example, the noun email appeared in English before the verb: a decade ago I would have sent you an email (noun)
whereas now I can either send you an email (noun) or simply email (verb) you. The original noun email experienced conversion, thus resulting in
the new verb email. Conversion is also referred to as zero derivation or null derivation with the assumption that the formal change between words
results in the addition of an invisible morpheme. However, many linguistics argue for a clear distinction between the word formation processes of
derivation and conversion.