Suffixes
Parts of words fit together like
pieces of a puzzle.
The root word or base word is the basic part of a word
that has meaning and can be used all on its own.
An affix is one or more letters that can be added to the
front or the back of a root word to change its meaning.
prefix
Prefixes:
A prefix is a word or part of a word
that is placed in the front of another
word to change its meaning.
un
happy The meaning of the prefix can help us
understand the meaning of the word.
un means not
root word unhappy means not happy
Example:
anti means against
anti anti
freeze social
Example:
co means with
co co
worker pilot
Example:
dis means not
dis dis
like
agree
Suffixes: root word
A suffix is a word or part of a word
that is placed at the end of another
word to change its meaning.
teach
The meaning of the suffix can help us er
understand the meaning of the word.
suffix
A suffix is a group of letters added to the end of
a word to change its meaning or grammatical
function.
Example:
-er → Used for people who do an action
write teach
r er
Example:
-or → Similar to -er
act invent
or or
Example:
-ist → Used for people with a specific belief, profession, or skill
art piano
ist ist
Example:
-ian → Used for people related to a profession, nationality, or expertise
music Italy
ian ian
Example:
able means can be done
notice break
able able
Example:
ed means already happened
walk cook
ed ed
Example:
en means made of
gold wood
en en
Derivational
Suffixes
Noun-forming
These suffixes change the meaning or
part of speech of a word.
Adjective-forming
Noun-forming suffixes:
-er (teach → teacher)
-ment (develop → development)
Adverb-forming
Adjective-forming suffixes:
Verb-forming -ful (beauty → beautiful)
-less (hope → hopeless)
Adverb-forming suffixes:
-ly (quick → quickly)
Verb-forming suffixes:
-ize (modern → modernize)
Inflectional Suffixes
These suffixes do not change the word’s part of speech
but show tense, number, possession, or comparison.
Examples:
Plural: -s (cat → cats)
Past tense: -ed (walk → walked)
Present participle: -ing (run → running)
Comparative: -er (fast → faster)
Superlative: -est (strong → strongest)
