Editor's Corner

Hello word lovers and English enthusiasts! My buddy Jane G. sent me a quick video the other day about affixes. I didn’t know what they were, or at least I didn’t think I did, but I think we all know about some affixes. An affix is (from Merriam-Webster):

affix (noun): one or more sounds or letters occurring as a bound form attached to the beginning or end of a word, base, or phrase or inserted within a word or base and serving to produce a derivative word or an inflectional form.

Okay, but what does that really mean? Simply, it is something we add to a word to make other words. The different types of affixes are named after what you’re adding (a letter, a few letters) and where you are adding them to the word. Let’s start today with one that we’re taught in school: prefixes.

A prefix is an affix attached to the beginning of a word, base, or phrase. In the world of affixes, just remember that “pre” means before. Here are some common prefixes in English, what they mean, and some examples:

*I decided to provide the etymology for prevent because I thought, “Prevent means to keep something from happening, but how does that equal pre + vent? Wouldn’t that mean ‘before the fan,’ or ‘before the wind’?” Nope. From the Online Etymology Dictionary, it’s closer to “come before”:

prevent: "act in anticipation of” from pre– “before” + vene “to come”

Next time, suffixes!

Kara Church | Technical Editor, Advisory | Knowledge Enablement

Pronouns: she/her | Call via Teams | jackhenry.com

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