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Affix

An affix is a morpheme that is attached to a base morpheme to form a word. An affix can be a prefix (attached before another morpheme), a suffix (attached after another morpheme), an infix (inserted within another morpheme), a circumfix (attached before and after another morpheme), or a suprafix (attached suprasegmentally to another morpheme). Affixes are bound morphemes by definition. Prefixes and suffixes may be separable affixes.

Affixes are central to the process of agglutination.

affix example
prefix undo
prefix + root
suffix looking
root + suffix
infix 1 fanfuckingtastic
ro- + infix + -ot
circumfix 2 enlighten
circum- + root + -fix
suprafix produce (noun)
produce (verb)
(changing stress)

1 English infixes only exist in exclamatory constructions like the given example.
2 English circumfixes do not exist other than en- -en, which is not productive now.

See also



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01-04-2007 01:21:04