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Affixation for Dummies

noun

pronunciation: ,æfɪk'seɪʃən

What does Affixation really mean?

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Affixation is a fancy word that may sound a little daunting at first, but trust me, it's really not complicated at all! So, let me break it down for you in the simplest possible way. Picture this, you know when you play with building blocks, and you have different pieces that you can put together to create something new and exciting? Well, think of words like building blocks too. They have different parts that can be attached to them, just like adding one piece of a block onto another. That's where affixation comes into play!

In the world of words, affixation is the process of adding a little extra something, like a puzzle piece, to a word. This little extra something, also known as an affix, can be attached to the beginning of a word, which is called a prefix, or it can be added to the end, which is called a suffix. These affixes might seem small, but they can completely change the meaning or even the grammatical function of a word!

Let's take an example to make it clearer. Imagine you have the word "happy." Now, if we want to make it even happier, we can add the suffix "er" to it, making it "happier." Did you notice how the word changed? By adding the suffix "-er," we turned "happy" into a comparative form, meaning it is now expressing a higher level of happiness than before. Cool, right?

Now, affixation doesn't only apply to making words bigger, it's also about creating brand new words altogether! For instance, let's take the word "kind." By adding the prefix "un" to it, we get "unkind," and suddenly we have a totally opposite meaning. Instead of being nice and thoughtful, "unkind" means the opposite, like being mean or cruel. See how the prefix changed the whole word and its meaning?

So, my friend, affixation is all about adding those extra pieces to words, either at the beginning or end, to modify their meaning, create new words, or change their grammatical function. Just think of it as playing with building blocks but with words, and you'll have a good grasp on the concept of affixation!

Revised and Fact checked by Olivia Martin on 2023-11-06 03:15:57

Affixation In a sentece

Learn how to use Affixation inside a sentece

  • When we add the prefix 'un-' to the word 'happy', it becomes 'unhappy'. This is an example of affixation.
  • Adding the suffix '-ed' to the word 'play' changes it to 'played'. That's another example of affixation.
  • If we attach the prefix 're-' to the word 'do', it transforms into 'redo'. That's also an instance of affixation.
  • When we add the suffix '-s' to the word 'cat', it becomes 'cats'. That's an example of affixation as well.
  • By combining the prefix 'dis-' with the word 'agree', it changes to 'disagree'. This is yet another example of affixation.

Affixation Synonyms

Words that can be interchanged for the original word in the same context.

Affixation Hypernyms

Words that are more generic than the original word.

Affixation Hyponyms

Words that are more specific than the original word.