Parts

of a
Word
by Mr. Ezekiel D. Rodriguez
 What is a ROOT?
A root, as its name suggests, is a
word or word part from which
other words grow, usually
through the addition of prefixes
 and suffixes.
The root of the word vocabulary,
for example, is voc, a Latin root
meaning "word" or "name."
This root also appears in the
words advocacy, convocation,
evocative,
Examples:
Main types of

Prefix
Suffix
 What are ?

A word element – usually a

prefix or suffix--that can be
attached to a base, stem,
or root to form a new word.
 What are ?

Etymology:
From the Latin Figere,
"fasten"
 Prefix

A letter or group of letters

attached to the beginning
of a word that partly
indicates its meaning.
Common prefixes
include anti- (against), co- 
(with), mis- (wrong, bad),
and trans-(across).
 Types of

Derivational prefixes do not

normally alter the 
word class of the base
word; that is, a prefix is
added to a noun to form a
new noun with a different
meaning.
 Prefix

Etymology:
From the Latin Praefixum,
"to fasten in front"
 Prefix
During the 1980s, 'mini-' gave
way to 'micro-,' which has
yielded to 'nano-.' In the new
millennium, companies such as
Nanometrics, Nanogen and
NanoPierce Technologies have
all embraced the prefix,
despite complaints their
products were hardly nano-
scale (a billionth of a meter or
smaller).
Common Prefixes
Common Prefixes
Common Prefixes
Common Prefixes
 Suffix

"Gazebo: The name is an

18th-century joke word
combining 'gaze' with the
Latin suffix 'ebo,' meaning
'I shall.‘”

(Encyclopedia Britannica Online)

 Types of

Derivational suffixes, on the

other hand, usually change
both the meaning and the
word class; that is, a suffix
is often added to a verb or 
adjective to form a new
noun with a different
Example:
adjective: dark / suffixed
noun: darkness
verb: agree / suffixed
noun: agreement
noun: friend / suffixed
noun: friendship

(Douglas Biber, Susan Conrad, and Geoffrey Leech, Longman

 Suffix

A letter or group of letters

added to the end of a word
or stem (i.e., a base form),
serving to form a new word
or functioning as an 
inflectional ending.
 Suffix

Etymology:
From the Latin Suffixum,
“to fasten underneath”
Common Noun
Suffixes
Common Noun
Suffixes
Common Verb
Suffixes
Common Adjective
Suffixes