Languages, as known nowadays, are the product of an ongoing process of transformation.

Word formation
is part of this process. Although we are going to focus on the uses of affixes (prefixes and suffixes),
throughout these notes you can find out more about these and other processes which take place not only in
English, but several other languages as well…

Prefixes

Prefixes are letters which we add to the beginning of a word to make a new word with a different meaning.
Prefixes can, for example, create a new word opposite in meaning to the word the prefix is attached to. They
can also make a word negative or express relations of time, place or manner. Here are some examples:
base word prefixed word type of meaning
possible impossible opposite
able unable opposite/negation
payment non-payment negation
war pre-war time (before)
terrestrial extraterrestrial place (outside of/beyond)
cook overcook manner (too much)
rail, lingual monorail, monolingual mono- means ‘one’
purpose, cultural multipurpose, multicultural multi- means ‘many’
war, graduate post-war, postgraduate post- means ‘after’

I’m sorry I was unable to attend the meeting.

Some prefixes are commonly used to create new words. In modern English the prefix ‘e-‘ is used to create
new words that are connected with the Internet and the use of the Internet: e-bank, e-cards, e-commerce, e-
learning

Suffixes

A suffix is a letter or group of letters added at the end of a word to create a different word class from the
original word. In the table below, the suffix -ful has changed verbs to adjectives, -ment, and -ion have
changed verbs to nouns. If you see a word ending in ‘-ment’, for example, it is likely to be a noun
(e.g. commitment, contentment).
words suffix new words
forget, use (verbs) -ful forgetful, useful (adjectives)
state, govern (verbs) -ment statement, government (nouns)
complicate, create (verbs) -ion complication, creation (nouns)
terror (noun) -ism terrorism (nouns)
king (noun/person) -dom kingdom (noun/place)
employ, act (verbs) -er/-or employer, actor (noun/person who does this)
wide, strong (adjectives) -en widen, strengthen(verb/cause sth to do this)
simple, ample (adjectives) -ify simplify, amplify (verbs)
reason, profit (noun) -able reasonable, profitable (adjectives)
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/grammar/british-grammar/word-formation
 words suffix new words
-ly unhappily,naturally (adverbs)

Often, the suffix causes a spelling change to the original word. In the table above, the e ending
of complicate and create disappears when the –ion suffix is added. Other examples of spelling changes
include:
1. beauty, duty + -ful → beautiful, dutiful (-y changes to i)
2. heavy, ready + -ness → heaviness, readiness (-y changes to i)
3. able, possible + -ity → ability, possibility (-le changes to il)
4. permit, omit + -ion → permission, omission (-t changes to ss)
A good learner’s dictionary will give you information on the correct spelling of words with suffixes.

Conversion
Conversion involves the change of a word from one word class to another. For example, the verbs to
email and to microwave are formed from the nouns email and microwave:
Can you text her? (verb from noun text, meaning to send a text-message)
They are always jetting somewhere. (verb from noun jet)
If you’re not careful, some downloads can damage your computer. (noun from verb download)
OK, so the meeting’s on Tuesday. That’s a definite. (noun from adjective)
It’s a very big if and I’m not at all sure we can afford it. (noun from conjunction, meaning ‘it’s not at
all certain’)
All companies have their ups and downs. (nouns from prepositions)
We also use conversion when we change a proper noun into a common noun:
Has anybody seen my Dickens? (copy of a book by Dickens)

Compounding
When we use compounding, we link together two or more bases to create a new word. Normally, the first
item identifies a key feature of the second word. For example, the two bases back and ache can combine to
form the compound noun backache, and the two bases post and card combine to form the compound
noun postcard.
Compounds are found in all word classes. The most common types of compounds are:
Nouns: car park, rock band
Adjectives: heartbreaking, sugar-free, airsick
Verbs: oven-bake, baby-sit, chain-smoke
Adverbs: good-naturedly, nevertheless
Almost any noun may potentially combine with any other noun to form new noun compounds (e.g. computer
virus, carbon footprint, quality time).
It is sometimes difficult to know where to put hyphens in words that are compounded. It is also difficult to
know whether to separate words (e.g.post box) or to join the words (e.g. postbox). In such cases, it is best to
check in a good learner’s dictionary.

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/grammar/british-grammar/word-formation
Abbreviation
Abbreviation involves shortening a word. We
do this in three main ways: clipping, acronyms
and blends.
We use clipping when we shorten or ‘clip’ one
or more syllables from a word. We also
commonly clip proper names for people:
ad: advertisement, advert
lab: laboratory
Matt: Matthew
Acronyms are a type of abbreviation formed
when the initial letters of two or more words are
combined in a way that produces consonant and
vowel sequences found in words.
Acronyms are normally pronounced as words:
RAM: random access memory (RAM is a
term used to describe a computer’s
memory.)
Initials are similar to acronyms but are
pronounced as sets of letters, not as words:
WHO: World Health Organisation,
pronounced W–H–O
CD: compact disc, pronounced C–D
We form blends when we combine parts of
existing words to form a new word:
blog: blend of web and log
motel: blend of motor and hotel
smog: blend of smoke and fog

Back-formation
We form words with back-formation when we
remove part of a word, usually something
which we think is a suffix (or occasionally a
prefix). We do this commonly when we form
verbs from nouns.
For example: to liaise (back-formed from the
noun liaison); to intuit (back-formed from the
noun intuition), to enthuse (back-formed from
the noun enthusiasm):
Can you liaise with Tim and agree a
time for the meeting, please?
She’s always enthusing about her new
teacher.
Loan words - Borrowing
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/grammar/british-grammar/word-formation
Loan words are words that are borrowed from other languages. Some recent loan words for food taken from
other languages include: sushi, tapas, chapatti, pizza. When we use loan words, we do not normally change
them, though we do sometimes inflect them if they are singular countable nouns (pizzas, chapattis). We also
sometimes pronounce them more like English words, instead of using their original pronunciation.

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/grammar/british-grammar/word-formation