Prefixes and Suffixes

 Prefixes and Suffixes

What are Prefixes and Suffixes?

Prefixes and suffixes are grammatical and lingual "affixes." Prefixes are affixed before and suffixes after a base word or word stem to add information.  For example, with the word "prehistoric," the prefix is "pre-" meaning "before," the base word is "history" meaning "recorded events and knowledge", and the suffix is "-ic" meaning "relating to the science of."

In other words, "prefix" simply refers to an attachment before or in front of, in this case, a shorter word or stem. In lingual terms, a "stem" is the main part of a word to which prefixes and suffixes can be added and may not necessarily be a word itself, such as "dod" in "doddle."

Similarly, "suffix" refers to an attachment after the end of an existing word or stem, serving to form a new word or functioning as an inflectional ending, for example, “s” or “es” to make for plurality.

Is an Affix a Single Syllable?

No, a prefix or suffix can be one or more syllables, depending on the root word from Latin or Greek or from any one of a host of other English lingual influences.

Inflectional Suffixes

Are Endings such as "-ed," "-ing," and "-s" Suffixes?

Yes, endings that are create different forms of the same word are called "inflectional suffixes." There are very few inflectional suffixes but they occur rather frequently. They are:

-s, -es, -ies		plural
-s		3rd person singular present
-ed		past tense
-en		past participle
-en		plural (irregular)
-ing		progressive/continuous
-er		comparative
-est		superlative
-n't		negative (contraction)

Derivational Suffixes

Are Endings such as "-ism," "-ful," and "-fy" Suffixes?

Endings that change the meaning of the word are called "derivational suffixes." Some are:

-ism		forms a noun
-ist		noun
-ful		noun
-able		adjective
-ation		noun
-ness		noun
-ment		noun
-ify		verb
-fy		adjective
-ity		noun
-ly		adverb
-ise, -ize		verb

Derivational suffixes can combine, providing flexibility in creating other words, but such activity can lead to spelling complications. For example, "-ity" can combine with "-able," but the result is "-ability" (desirability, predictability), and when "-ly" is added to a word ending in "-ic" to make an adverb, the result is usually "-ically" (historically, mechanically).

Prefixes 

Prefixes are placed before the words to modify their meanings; like suffixes, they are groups of letters that rarely serve a purpose unless attached to a word. Here is a list of commonly used prefixes to give you an idea of how to identify them.

Prefix	Meaning	Examples
-a	On/in/out/from	Away, aboard, arise, alight
-al	all	Alone, already
-be	by	Below, before
-by	Be/on the side	Bypass, byword
-for	through	forget, forgive
-fore	before	Forecast, foresee
-gain	against	Gainsay
-in	in	Inside, income
-mis	wrong	Mislead, mistake
-over	Above/beyond	overflow, overcharge
-out	out	Outside, outcome
-to	this	Today, tonight
-un	Not/to reverse an action	Unkind, untie
-under	below	Underground, undersell
-with	Against/back	Withdraw, withhold
-wel	In good condition	Welcome, welfare

Suffixes

Suffixes are placed after words to modify their meanings; like prefixes, they are groups of letters that rarely serve a purpose unless attached to a word. Here is a list of some of them to give you an idea of how to identify suffixes.

Suffix	Meaning	Examples
-able/-ible	capable of	portable, legible
-ac/-ic	like/related to	cardiac, Nordic
-acy	state/quality of being	privacy, legitimacy
-acious/-icious	full of	gracious, malicious
-al	related to	logical, philosophical
-ance/-ence	state/quality of being	maintenance, permanence
-dom	state/quality of being	freedom, kingdom
-eer/-er/-or	person who	mountaineer, writer, counsellor
-escent	becoming, to be	adolescent, fluorescent
-esque	like/reminiscent of	picturesque, Kafkaesque
-fy	to make	magnify, electrify
-iferous	containing, yielding	vociferous, carboniferous
-ise	make, become	civilise, terrorise
-ish	having qualities of	hellish, fiendish
-ism	doctrine, belief, practice	favouritism, communism
-ist	person who	chemist, florist
-ity	state/quality of being	ingenuity, oddity
-less	without	brainless, endless
-ment	state/quality of being, result of action, process	enjoyment, embankment, abridgement
-ness	state of being	thinness, loneliness
-oid	like	celluloid, ovoid
-ose	full of	adipose, verbose
-osis	condition	hypnosis, psychosis
-ous	full of	illustrious, nauseous
-ship	position held	friendship, membership
-sion/-tion	state/quality of being	torsion, transition
-tude	state/quality of being	fortitude, certitude
-y	characterised by	funny, greedy