Affix

An affix is a morpheme that is attached to a base morpheme such as a root or to a stem, to form a word. Affixes may be derivational, like English -ness and pre-, or inflectional, like English plural -s and past tense -ed.

Related Topics:
Morpheme - Root - Stem - Derivational - Inflectional

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Affixes are divided into several types, depending on their position with reference to the root: prefixes (attached before another morpheme), suffixes (attached after another morpheme), infixes (inserted within another morpheme), circumfixes (attached before and after another morpheme or set of morphemes), or suprafixes (attached suprasegmentally to another morpheme). Affixes are bound morphemes by definition. Prefixes and suffixes may be separable affixes.

Related Topics:
Prefix - Suffix - Infix - Circumfix - Suprafix - Suprasegmental - Bound morpheme - Separable affix

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There also has been a proposal of a somewhat different type of affix, a disfix, which subtracts phonological segments from bases.

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Affixes are central to the process of concatenation.

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1 English infixes only exist in exclamatory constructions like the given example.

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2 There are only two words in the english language said to use circumfixes. Embolden and Enlighten.

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