Morphemes are divided into prefixes, roots, suffixes, and combining vowels.
Since prefixes and suffixes are few in number while roots are numerous, one can memorize the prefixes and suffixes and accumulate roots gradually over time. Prefixes and roots each carry a definite original meaning, while suffixes serve to change the part of speech. By separating a word’s prefix, root, and suffix with hyphens, the original meaning of the word is displayed plainly; a word that once appeared as an indivisible whole is broken into organically unified components. In this way, one can roughly infer a word’s meaning from its prefix and root, and accurately determine its part of speech from its suffix. Suffixes are often formed by combining and transforming two or more suffixes; such multiple suffixes are also segmented to reveal the word’s part-of-speech transformation process.
Roots
Since roots are numerous, only a small commonly-used portion is listed below. For more, consult a relevant root dictionary.
Summary of the most common roots:
ag, act = do; agr = field; am = love; anim = mind, spirit, life; ann, enn = year; astro = star; audi = hear; bell = war; bio = life, living thing; brev = short; ced = go; cent = hundred; center, centr = center; cid, cis = kill, cut; claim, clam = cry out; clar = clear; clud, clos = close; cogn = know; cord = heart; cosm = universe, world; cred = believe; cur, cours = run; cycl = circle, ring; di = day; dict = say; duc, duct = lead; ed = eat; fact = do, make; fer = carry, bring; flu = flow; form = form, shape; fract, frag = break; fus = pour; gen = origin; geo = earth, land; grad = step, go; gram = write, record; graph = write, draw; gress = walk; hap = chance, luck; hospit = guest; insul = island; hydra = water; ject = throw; junct = join; lect, leg, lig = choose, gather; lev = lift, raise; liber = free; lingu = language; liter = letter; loc = place; log = speech; loqu = speak; manu = hand; medi = middle; memor = memory; milit = soldier; min = small, less; mob, mot, mov = move; mort = death; nov = new; numer = number; oper = work; opt = light; path = feeling, disease; pel = push, drive; pend, pen = hang; phon = sound; plen = full; pon, pos = place; popul = people; port = carry; prim = first; psych = mind; pur = pure; rect = straight; rid, ris = laugh; rupt = break; scend, scens, scent = climb; sci = know; sens, sent = feel; sol = sun; spec = look; spir = breathe, life; tact, tang, tag = touch; tail = cut; tain, ten, tin = hold, contain; tect = cover; tele = far; tend, tens, tent = stretch; text = weave; therm = heat; tor, tort = twist; tract = drag, pull; un, uni = one; ut = use; vac, van = empty; vari = change; ven = come; vert, vers = turn; vid, vis = see; vit, viv = life; volv = roll; wis, wit = know
Prefixes
Common prefixes and their variants are categorized below to aid memorization. The prefixes listed here are commonly used ones and do not represent all prefixes. Table 15 shows the prefixes and their variant rules; Table 16 shows the numerical prefixes.
The most common form of prefix variation is “prefix assimilation,” which means that the final consonant letter of the prefix assimilates to match the first letter of the root, so as to facilitate smooth pronunciation.
Table 15 — Prefixes and Their Variant Rules
| Prefix | Variant | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| in- | becomes il-, ir-, i- before l, r, gn becomes im- before b, m, p |
in, not |
| ad- | assimilates to ab, af, ag, al, an, ap, ar, as, at before b, f, g, l, n, p, r, s, t becomes ac- before c, k, q |
away, not, intensive |
| con- | becomes co- before h, gn, and vowels becomes col- before l becomes cor- before r becomes com- before b, m, p |
together |
| en- | becomes em- before b, m, p | in, intensive |
| ex- | becomes ef- before f becomes e- before b, c, d, g, j, l, m, n, r, v extra-, exo- |
out |
| ob- | becomes oc-, of-, op- before c, f, p | against |
| syn- | becomes sym- before b, m, p becomes syl-, syr- before l, r becomes sy- before s, z drops n before vowels |
same |
| sub- | becomes suc-, suf-, sug-, sum-, sup-, sur- before c, f, g, m, p, r | under |
| a- | becomes an- before vowels or consonant h | not, intensive |
| ne- | becomes n- before vowels becomes neg- before roots beginning with l |
not |
| per- | becomes pel- before l. | through, all |
| dis- | becomes dif- before f. | away, not |
| inter- | intra-, intro- becomes intel- before l. |
between, among |
| contra- | variants contre-, contro | against, not |
| se- | becomes sed- before vowels. | apart |
| drop final letter | multi-, myria-, octa-, cata-, para-, endo-, ento-, penta-, quinque-, tetra- drop the prefix’s final letter before vowels. anti- drops i before vowels or h apo-, epi- drop the final letter before roots beginning with h |
Table 16 — Numerical Prefixes
| One | Two | Three | Four | Five | Six | Seven | Eight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| uni- mono- |
bi- di- amphi- |
tri- | quadr- quart- tetra- |
quinque- pent- |
sex- hexa- |
sept- hept- |
octa- |
| Nine | Ten | Half | Many | Hundred | Thousand | Micro | Macro |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| non- enne- |
deci- deca- |
semi- demi- hemi- quasi- |
multi- poly- |
cent- hecto- |
chili- kilo- |
milli- mini- micro- |
macro- |
Other common prefixes besides those in Tables 15 and 16 are listed below:
ante- = before, front; auto- = self; be- = to make; bene- = good; by- = side, deputy; circum- = around; counter- = against; de- = intensive; dia- = through; endo- = within; eu- = good; fore- = before; hetero- = different; holo- = whole; homo- = same; hyper- = over; hypo- = under; infra- = below; iso- = equal; mal-/male- = bad; meta- = beyond, change; mis- = wrong; neo- = new; non- = not; omni- = all; out- = out; over- = over; paleo- = old; pan- = all; para- = beside; pen-/pene- = almost; peri- = around; poly- = many; post- = after; pre- = before; pro- = forward; proto- = first; pseudo- = false; re- = again; retro- = backward; sino- = China; step- = step; stereo- = solid; super- = over, above; supra- = above; trans- = across; tele- = far; ultra- = beyond; under- = under; vice- = deputy; with- = back, against
Suffixes
Common suffixes are classified below by part of speech to aid memorization. The suffixes listed here are commonly used ones.
Common suffixes classified by part of speech:
- Nouns
- People, things: ain, aire, an, i-an, ant, ar, ard, art, ary, ate, at-or, ee, eer, en, enne, ent, er, ese, ess, eur, fi-er, herd, ic-i-an, ier, ist, ist-er, ite, it-or, ive, log-ist, man, on, or, our, ster, y, yer
- Abstract nouns: abili-ty, ibi-li-ty, ace, acy, aci-ty, ac-le, ade, age, al, al-ity, ance, ancy, ane-i-ty, ary, ari-an, at-ion, ence, ency, e-th, cy, dom, f-ic-at-ion, hood, ia, ic(s), ice, i-li-ty, ise, ing, (s/t)ion, ism, asm, it-ion, itude, iv-ity, iz-at-ion, logy, (i)um, ment, mony, ness, our, or, os-i-ty, ry, ship, th, ty, ety, ity, ure, y
- Places: ace, age, ary, dom, ery, ory, ari-um, ori-um, um, y
- Small things (diminutives): cle, el, le, en, in, et, ette, kin, let, ling, ule, ie, y
-
Adjectives
ace-ous, aci-ous, able, ible, al, i-al, an, i-an, ant, ane-ous, ent, ar, ari-an, ary, ate, at-ic, at-ive, at-ory, ete, et-ic, ute, ed, en, e-ous, ern, ese, est, (i)f-ic, fold, ful, ic, ic-al, ic-ity, id, ile, ine, ing, ior, ique, i-ous, it-i-ous, it-ive, esque, ish, ist-ic, ist-ic-al, ite, ive, less, like, log-ic-al, ly, most, ory, ous, proof, some, u-al, ular, ward, y
-
Adverbs
ably, ibly, al-ly ence, est, ling, long, ly, s, ward(s), way(s), wise
-
Verbs
ate, en, er, esce, fy, ish, ize, ise, le
-
Other suffixes
ast, end, and, act, it
Combining Vowels
When a root ending in a consonant is joined to a suffix beginning with a consonant, the lack of a vowel prevents smooth pronunciation, so a combining vowel — -a-, -e-, -i-, -o-, or -u- — is often inserted to serve as a link. The use of these combining vowels is fairly arbitrary and follows no rule. Some roots are regularly followed by a fixed combining vowel, which may be regarded as part of the root for memorization, such as the -i- in the root agri-. Sometimes a combining vowel is merged with a suffix; for example, in artificial, the most complete segmentation is art-i-f-ic-i-al (art is the root; the first and third i are combining vowels; f is the form taken by fy after changing to fi and dropping i), though it is usually segmented only as art-if-ic-ial. Another example is institution, whose most complete segmentation is in-stit-u-t-i-on (in is the prefix; stit is the root; u and i are combining vowels; on is the suffix), though it is usually segmented as in-stit-ut-ion, in-stitu-tion, in-stitut-ion, or in-stit-u-tion, according to personal preference.
When memorizing words, take care to distinguish the combining vowels from the rest of the word and give them due attention; this makes misspelling less likely.
Suffix Variation
Most students know to add -ly to an adjective to form an adverb; to add -ing and -ed to a verb to change its tense; and to add -er and -est to an adjective to form the comparative and superlative. But most students do not know how to use other suffixes, or have not fully and systematically mastered the use of all suffixes and their variations. In fact, suffix variation seems complicated but is actually quite simple — it is all a combination of the following three rules and the five combining vowels.
Suffix variation rules:
-
Change y to i: a morpheme ending in y changes y to i when another suffix is added; if that suffix begins with i, only one i is kept.
-
Drop e: when a suffix beginning with a vowel or semivowel is appended after a silent letter e, the e is dropped; when a suffix beginning with a consonant is appended, the e is kept. However, as in changeable, the e is kept to prevent g from changing its sound. (Since a final silent e serves as a marker for distinguishing open and closed sounds, dropping it can sometimes cause confusion between open and closed sounds — take care.)
-
Double: a stressed closed syllable ending in a single vowel letter plus a doubable consonant letter doubles that final doubable consonant when adding certain suffixes beginning with a vowel, -y, or -le (common doubling suffixes are shown in Table 18). For example: app-le (stressed closed syllable, doubled); tab-le (stressed open syllable, not doubled); happ-y (stressed closed syllable, doubled).
Conversely, whether doubling occurs can be used to determine whether the preceding vowel letter is in an open or closed syllable.
Doubable consonant letters: B, C, D, F, G, L, M, N, P, R, S, T, Z. Non-doubable consonant letters: H, J, K, Q, V, W, X, Y. In words beginning with qu, the u is pronounced [w] and is treated as a consonant; for example, quitting doubles the t.
The consonant letter C may be doubled as cc or ck depending on the vowel letter that follows.
Note the distinction: prefix assimilation is not doubling, as in affect; and some words inherently contain doubled letters that are not the result of doubling, as in ill, bill, billion, passage.
Table 18 — Common Suffixes That Double the Consonant
| Suffixes that double the consonant | |
|---|---|
| A | -å, -år, -årẏ, -ȧage, |
| E | -ēe，-e̊r, -e̊rẏ, -ed, -est, -ėy, (n/r后)-e̊l, -e̊n, |
| I,Y | -ẏ, -i-(由-y变形而来) , -ing |
| O | -ō,(l/r后)-ōw, -o̊r/-o̊ur, -o̊n, -o̊m, -o̊rẏ |
| L | -le |
Below are some examples of suffix variation, though not an exhaustive list; the word examples section will show the various variations of suffixes and their part-of-speech changes clearly.
-u-le→-ule→-ul-;
-i-le→-ile→-il-;
-i-fy→-ify→-ifi-→-if-;
-le-ing→-ling;
-le-er→-ler;
-le-ed→-led;
-i-ous→-ious;
-i-on→-ion;
-acy-ous→-acious;
-acy-ty→acity;
-ist-er→-istr（少量）;
-ate-ion→-ation;
-ate-ic→-at-ic;
-ate-ive→-at-ive;
-ate-ory→-at-ory;
-ary-um→-ari-um;
-ory-um→-ori-um;
-acy-ous→-aci-ous.
Common Combinations of Prefixes and Suffixes
Morphemes are composed of vowel phonemes and consonant phonemes. Since prefixes and suffixes are fewer in number than roots, we can analyze their vowel and consonant composition. As the analysis shows, the common compositions of prefixes and suffixes are given in Table 19; memorizing this table effectively helps one master prefixes and suffixes.
Table 19 — Common Combinations of Prefixes and Suffixes
| A | E | I/Y | O | U/W | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ab | - | - | - | - | -B | |
| ac/ace | - | ic | - | - | -C | |
| acy | - | - | - | - | CY | |
| - | - | - | - | - | CH | |
| ad | ed | id | - | - | -D | |
| af | ef | ify | of | - | -F | |
| F- | - | - | fy | - | - | |
| ag/age | eg | - | - | - | -G | |
| - | - | - | - | - | -H | |
| - | - | - | - | - | -J | |
| - | - | - | - | - | -K | |
| al | el | - | - | ul | -L | |
| L- | - | le | ly | - | - | |
| am | em | im | om | um | -M | |
| an | en | in | on | om | -N | |
| ang | eng | ing | ong | - | -NG | |
| ant | ent | - | - | - | -NT | |
| ance | ence | - | - | - | -NCE | |
| ancy | ency | - | - | -NCY | ||
| ap | - | ip | - | - | -P | |
| Q- | - | - | - | - | qu | |
| ar | er | ir | or | ur | -R | |
| ary | ery | - | ory | - | -RY | |
| as | es | ise | - | us | -S | |
| ast | est | ist | - | - | -ST | |
| - | - | ism | - | - | -SM | |
| - | - | ish | - | - | -SH | |
| at/ate | et | it/ite | - | ut | -T | |
| - | - | ity | - | - | -TY | |
| - | - | ive | - | - | -V | |
| aw | ew | - | ow | - | -W | |
| - | ex | - | - | - | -X | |
| ay | ey | - | oy | - | -Y | |
| - | - | ize | - | - | -Z |
