Affixes in English Grammar

In English grammar, affix refers to a grammatical element which is combined with a word or phrase to create derived and inflected forms. Affix is broadly categorized into three different types including prefix, infix and suffix. A prefix is placed at the beginning of a word so as to alter or change its meaning (for example, ‘Disadvantage’, here ‘dis’ is used as a prefix). A suffix is placed at the end of a word in order to create a new word (for example, ‘Careful’, here ‘full’ is used as a suffix). Further, an infix is placed in the middle of the word. However, the English language has no infixes, but they are mostly found in Greek or American Indian Languages.

The process of adding a morpheme (affix) to a word to produce a different form of that word or to create a new word with different meaning is known as affixation. Some example words are mentioned below:

•    Start- Restart
•    Appear- Disappear
•    Dark- Darkness
•    Fond- Fondness
•    Car- Cars
•    Act- Action

Definition of Affix

A word element (a prefix, suffix or infix), which can be joined to a base or root to create a new word is known as an affix.  An affix can be added at the beginning of the root or it can be placed at the end of a root so as to form a new form of the word.

There are different kinds of affixes

1. Prefix
2. Suffix
3. Infix
4. Circumfix
5. Simulfix
6. Suprafix

Some prefix words are mentioned below:

•    Market - Supermarket
•    Work - Overwork
•    Load - Overload
•    Happy - Unhappy
•    Developed - Underdeveloped    
•    Convenient – Inconvenient
•    Marine – Submarine

Some suffix words are mentioned below:

•    Comfort - Comfortable 
•    Gold - Golden
•    Fear - Fearless
•    Enjoy - Enjoyment
•    Child - Childish
•    Friend - Friendship
•    Meaning- Meaningless

Some words containing both prefix and suffix are mentioned below:

•    Inconsolable  (in – prefix) (able – suffix)
•    Unlikely  (un- prefix) (ly- suffix)
•    Immeasurable (im- prefix) (able- suffix)
•    Unpredictable (un- prefix) (able- suffix)
•    Disrespectful  (dis- prefix) (ful-suffix)
•    Multicultural (multi- prefix) (al -suffix)
•    Unconsciousness (un- prefix) (ness- suffix)