question

[Anonymous]

Hi. could you tell me about suffix? and what it means ? Thank you

[bmo]

Hi. could you tell me about suffix? and what it means ? Thank you

Teachers, is -fy in petrify or rectify a root or suffix? Similarly, is pre- in predict a root or prefix? Suffix and prefix add to the end or the beginning of a word or stem, forming a new word. It seems then, -fy and pre- are not suffix or prefix. Please enlighten.

BMO

[JULIANITAD]

Hi. could you tell me about suffix? and what it means ? Thank you

Teachers, is -fy in petrify or rectify a root or suffix? Similarly, is pre- in predict a root or prefix? Suffix and prefix add to the end or the beginning of a word or stem, forming a new word. It seems then, -fy and pre- are not suffix or prefix. Please enlighten.

BMO

THANKS FOR YOU HELP . CAN YOU PLEASE TELL ME WHAT DO THEY MEAN WHEN THEY ASK ON AN APLICATION ABOUT SUFFIX?

[MikeNewYork]

Hi. could you tell me about suffix? and what it means ? Thank you

OK. We'll start with you, Nita. Up at the top of the page is a little white search box for our glossary. If you type "suffix" (no quotation marks) in that box and click on search, you will get:

Suffix
USE:
Suffixes are groups of letters placed after a word to modify its meaning or change it into a different word group, from an adjective to an adverb, etc.

EG: gladly (the suffix -ly changes the word from an adjective to an adverb)

approached (the suffix -ed changes the verb from the present to the past)


See also: {Prefix}; {Affix}; {Morpheme}; {Inflection}

The key to prefixes and suffixes is that they add meaning to or change the function of the root word. If one takes the word "love", it is a root word. One can then add suffixes, such as "ly", "ing", or "d" to change this word into an adjective, present participle, or past tense verb, respectively. We could add a prefix "un" and a suffix "d" and end up with "unloved", an adjective. If we add another root word, as in "lovebird" we have added a second root word. That is not a suffix.

[MikeNewYork]

[quote="bmo

Teachers, is -fy in petrify or rectify a root or suffix? Similarly, is pre- in predict a root or prefix? Suffix and prefix add to the end or the beginning of a word or stem, forming a new word. It seems then, -fy and pre- are not suffix or prefix. Please enlighten.

BMO[/quote]

Yes, BMO, -fy and pre-, are a suffix and a prefix, respectively, but one has to go back to the roots of these words to see that. When one looks in a dictionary, one is usually looking for a spelling or a definition. But good dictionaries will also tell us where the words came from. Let's look at testify. Under the word, one will see:

[Middle English testifien, from Latin testificārī : testis, witness + -ficārī, -fy.]

This means that the original word was in Latin -- testificari, and that word was made from "testis" (root word for witness) and the suffix "ficari" which became "fy". Even though the suffix was added in another language, it is still a suffix.

If one looks at "predict", one will see:

[Latin praedīcere, praedict- : prae-, pre- + dīcere, to say.]

Again, the word is from Latin. It was formed from pre + dicere, meaning "to say". So predict means to say (something) before (it happens).

Prefixes are a bit different from suffixes. Suffixes usually have little meaning of their own. They are mostly used to change parts of speech or tense. A few suffixes mean a little something, such as -er which can mean "one who". But the "one who" has little real meaning without the root word. Writer = one who writes. Prefixes can have a standard meaning or meanings. In this case, "pre" means before, but again it means "before something" and the something is supplied by the root word.

[MikeNewYork]

[quote="JULIANITAD

THANKS FOR YOU HELP . CAN YOU PLEASE TELL ME WHAT DO THEY MEAN WHEN THEY ASK ON AN APLICATION ABOUT SUFFIX?[/quote]

I'm afraid you have me there. Someone may be using "suffix" to refer to letters or numbers that appear after something else. I'm not certain what you mean, however.

[bmo]

[quote="MikeNewYork"][quote="bmo


Yes, BMO, -fy and pre-, are a suffix and a prefix, respectively, but one has to go back to the roots of these words to see that. When one looks in a dictionary, one is usually looking for a spelling or a definition. But good dictionaries will also tell us where the words came from. Let's look at testify.

*************

Thanks. The American Heritage Dictionary" has these entries: Pre-, de-, and -oid, -fy, etc. These dashes indicate prefixes or suffixes, right? Is -oid both a suffix and a root word?

BMO

[MikeNewYork]

[quote="bmo"][quote=MikeNewYork][quote="bmo


Yes, BMO, -fy and pre-, are a suffix and a prefix, respectively, but one has to go back to the roots of these words to see that. When one looks in a dictionary, one is usually looking for a spelling or a definition. But good dictionaries will also tell us where the words came from. Let's look at testify.

*************

Thanks. The American Heritage Dictionary" has these entries: Pre-, de-, and -oid, -fy, etc. These dashes indicate prefixes or suffixes, right? Is -oid both a suffix and a root word?

BMO[/quote]

You're very welcome.

Yes, those hyphens mean prefix and suffix.

"Oid" is only a suffix. It means resembling something or like something.

humanoid = like a human
globoid = shaped like a globe.