Prefix, Suffix, and Affix

A.      Prefix

Prefixes are group of some letters that added up in the beginning of the word that transform into a new word that has new and different meaning. Prefixes often used to give adjectives a negative meaning. Prefix is one of a part in affix. There are a lot of prefix, some examples of prefix are:

Un-	Dis-	In-	Ir-	Il-
Multi-	Over-	Cyber-	Super-	De-

·         The opposite of ‘comfortable’ is ‘uncomfortable’

·         The opposite of ‘similiar’ is ‘dissimiliar’

·         Other examples are ‘unjust’, ‘disloyal’.

Unfortunately, there is no easy way of knowing which prefix any adjective will use to form its opposite. When you learn a new adjective note down whether it has an opposite formed with a prefix and, if so, what it is.

Note:

1.    a. In-  becomes Im- before a root beginning with ‘m’ or ‘p’

e.g. immature, impatient, impartial, improbable.

b. Similiarly in- becomes ir- before a word beginning with ‘r’

e.g. irreplaceble, irreversible.

c. And il- before word beginning with ‘L’

e.g. illegal, illegible, illeterate

2.    The prefix in- is not always have a negative meaning, often it gives the idea of inside or into.

e.g. internal, import, insert, income.

Although it is mainly adjectives which are made negative by prefixes, un- and dis- also form the opposite of verbs (e.g. appear – disappear). The prefix is used here to reverse the action of the verb.

Here are some more examples: disagree, disapprove, disbelieve, disconnect, discredit, dislike, dismount, disprove, disqualify, unbend, undo, undress, unfold, unload, unlock, unveil, unwrap, unzip.

Many other prefixes are used in English. Here is alist of prefixes which are useful in helping you to understand unfamiliar words. Some of these words are used with a hypen. Check in a dictionary if you’re not sure.

Prefix	Meaning	Examples
Anti	Against	Anti-war	Antisocial	Antibiotic
Auto	Of or by oneself	Autograph	Auto-pilot	Autobiography
Bi	Two, twice	Bicycle	Bi-monthly	Bilingual
Ex	Former	Ex-wife	Ex-student	Ex-president
Ex	Out of	Extract	Exhale	Excommunicate
Micro	Small	Micro-computer	Microwave	Microscopic
Mis	Badly/wrongly	Misunderstand	Mistranslate	Misinform
Mono	One/single	Monotonous	Monologue	Monogamous
Multi	Many	Multi-national	Multi-purpose	Multi-racial
Over	Too much	Overdo	Overtired	Oversleep
Post	After	Postwar	Postgraduate	Post-revolutionary
Pro	In favour of	Pro-government	Pro-revolutionary
Pseudo	False	Pseudo-scientific	Pseudo-intellectual
Re	Again or back	Retype	Reread	Replace
Semi	Half	Semicircular	Semi-final	Semi-detached
Sub	Under	Subway	Submarine	Subdivision
Under	Not enough	Underworked	Underused	Undercooked

B.       Suffix

1.      Suffix can change the word-class and the meaning of the word.

·         ­...-er  is used for the person who does an activity

(e.g. writer, worker, shopper, teacher.)

·         You can use ...-er with a wide range of verbs to make them into nouns. Sometimes, the ...-er suffix is written as –or instead of ­–er. It is worth making a special list of these as you meet them.

(e.g. actor, operator, sailor, supervisor.)

·         ...-er/...-or are also used for things which do a particular job (e.g. pencil-sharpener, bottle-opener, grater, projector).

...-er and ...-ee can contrast with each other meaning. (...-er : person who does something) and (...-ee : person who receives or expression the action)

(e.g. employer/employee, sender/addressee, payee)

·         ...-(t)ion is used to make nouns from verbs.

(e.g. complication, pollution, reduction, alteration, donation.)

·         ...-ist (person) and ...-ism (activity or ideology) are used for people’s politics, beliefs, ideologies, and sometimes their profession (compare with –er/-or profession above).

(e.g. marxism, buddhism, journalism, anarchist, physicist, terrorist)

...-ist also often used for people who play musical instruments (pianist, violinist, cellist)

·         ...-ness is used to make nouns from adjectives. Note what happens to adjectives that end in ­–y: goodness, readiness, forgetfulness, happiness, sadness, weakness.

2.      Other suffixes that can help you recognise the word class.

suffixes	examples
-ment	(nouns) excitement, enojoyment, replacement
-Ity	(nouns) flexiblity, productivity, scarcity
-hood	(abstract nouns especially family terns) childhood, motherhood
-ship	(abstract nouns especially status) friendship, partnership, membership
-ive	(adjectives) passive, productive, active
-al	(adjectives) brutal, legal / (nouns) refusal, arrival
-ous	(adjectives) delicious, outrageous, furious
-ful	(adjectives) forgetful, hopeful, useful
-less	(adjectives) harmless, cloudless, uselesss
-ify	(verbs) beautify, purify, terrify

Note:

·         The suffixes of adjectives have to use to be

·         The informal suffixes –ish, which can be added to most common adjectives, ages, and times to make them less precise. (e.g. She is thirtyish/ He has reddish hair/ Come about eightish)

C.      Affix

An affix (in modern sense) as a morpheme that is attached to a word steam to form a new word. Affixes may be derivational, like English –ness and pre-. Or inflectional, like English plural –s and past tense –ed.  They are bound morphemes by definition: prefix and suffix may be separable affixes.

Affixations, the linguistic process speakers use form different words by adding morphemes (affixes) at the beginning (prefixation) the middle (infixation) or the end (suffixation) of words.

Affixes are devided into plenty of categories, depending on their position with refrences you stem. Prefix and suffix are extremely common terms. Infix and circumfix are less so, as they are not important in European languages. The other terms are uncommon.

source: Modul Pamulang University