Morphemes and Affixes

Morphemes are the smallest meaningful units of language.

Roots and Bases

• Root: A piece of a word that is semantically complete in itself (e.g., cat).
• Base: Any form to which an affix is added. All roots are bases, but not all bases are roots (e.g., happy is a root; unhappy is a base for unhappiness).

Bound vs. Free

• Free: Can stand alone as a word (e.g., dog).
• Bound: Must be attached to another morpheme (e.g., -s in dogs, or roots like -ceive).

Types of Affixes

• Prefix: Attaches to the left (e.g., un-).
• Suffix: Attaches to the right (e.g., -ed).
• Infix: Attaches inside a base.
• Circumfix: Attaches around a base.