Morphology

In linguistics, morphology is the study of words, how they are formed, and their relationship to other words in the same language. It analyzes the structure of words and parts of words such as stems, root words, prefixes, and suffixes.

The internal structure of words and the segmentation into different kinds of morphemes is essential to the two basic purposes or morphology: the creation of new words and the modification of existing words.

Morphological awareness is explicitly thinking about the smallest units of meaning in language, which we call morphemes. These units include root words that can stand alone as words, prefixes, suffixes, and bound roots. Bound root words are roots that must have a prefix or suffix added to become a word.

Root Word

A root word is a basic word with no prefix or suffix added to it. A prefix is a string of letters that go at the start of a word; a suffix is a string of letters that go at the end of a word. By adding prefixes and suffixes to a root word we can change its meaning.

Related: Syntax

An affix is a morpheme that is attached to a word stem to form a new word or word form. Affixes may be derivational, like English -ness and pre-, or inflectional, like English plural -s and past tense -ed. They are bound morphemes by definition; prefixes and suffixes may be separable affixes.

A prefix is a letter or group of letters, for example ‘un-‘ or ‘multi-‘, which we add to the beginning of a word in order to form a different word. For example, we add the prefix ‘un-‘ to ‘ happy’ to form ‘unhappy’.

What is the difference between base and stem of a word?

A stem is of concern only when dealing with inflectional morphology. In the form ‘untouchables’ the stem is ‘untouchable’, although in the form ‘touched’ the stem is ‘touch’. A base is any form to which affixes of any kind can be added. This means that any root or any stem can be termed a base.

Common Prefixes

Prefix	Definition	Examples
anti-	against	anticlimax
de-	opposite	devalue
dis-	not; opposite of	discover
en-, em-	cause to	enact, empower
fore-	before; front of	foreshadow, forearm
in-, im-	in	income, impulse
in-, im-, il-, ir-	not	indirect, immoral, illiterate, irreverent
inter-	between; among	interrupt
mid-	middle	midfield
mis-	wrongly	misspell
non-	not	nonviolent
over-	over; too much	overeat
pre-	before	preview
re-	again	rewrite
semi-	half; partly; not fully	semifinal
sub-	under	subway
super-	above; beyond	superhuman
trans-	across	transmit
un-	not; opposite of	unusual
under-	under; too little	underestimate

Suffixes are one or more letters added to the end of a base word to change its conjugation, word type, or other grammar properties like plurality. For example, you can add the suffix -s to the noun strength to make it plural (strengths) or add the suffix –en to turn it into a verb (strengthen).

Related: Semantics

Common Suffixes

Suffix	Definition	Examples
-able, -ible	is; can be	affordable, sensible
-al, -ial	having characteristics of	universal, facial
-ed	past tense verbs; adjectives	the dog walked, the walked dog
-en	made of	golden
-er, -or	one who; person connected with	teacher, professor
-er	more	taller
-est	the most	tallest
-ful	full of	helpful
-ic	having characteristics of	poetic
-ing	verb forms; present participles	sleeping
-ion, -tion, -ation, -tion	act; process	submission, motion, relation, edition
-ity, -ty	state of	activity, society
-ive, -ative, -itive	adjective form of noun	active, comparative, sensitive
-less	without	hopeless
-ly	how something is	lovely
-ment	state of being; act of	contentment
-ness	state of; condition of	openness
-ous, -eous, -ious	having qualities of	riotous, courageous, gracious
-s, -es	more than one	trains, trenches
-y	characterized by	gloomy

Related: English Phonemes

What is the difference between base words and root words?

Base words are similar to root words, but they are not exactly the same. A base word is a standalone English word that can also form other words by using prefixes and suffixes (whereas, root words cannot always be used as an independent word).

Root words come from Latin or Greek. They aren’t usually words that can stand alone in English. For example,* aud **is a Latin word root that means to hear or to listen.
_Aud_ doesn’t mean anything on its own in English — that is, you can’t use it as a stand-alone word.
It is the root of common English words like auditorium, audio, audience, and audition, all of which have to do with hearing someone or something.

Base words, on the other hand, are always words that can stand alone in English. These words have meaning on their own. But they can also have prefixes and suffixes added to them to make new words. For example, cycle is a full word in English, but it can function as the base of other words when affixes are added. Modern linguists suggest that a base is any form you can add affixes to. Cycle is the base word, or the simplest form of the word without any prefixes or suffixes added.

Prefixes can be added to make words like bicycle, tricycle and motorcycle.
Suffixes can be added to make words like cyclist, cyclical or cyclers.

Common Latin Roots

Latin Root	Definition	Examples
ambi	both	ambiguous, ambidextrous
aqua	water	aquarium, aquamarine
aud	to hear	audience, audition
bene	good	benefactor, benevolent
cent	one hundred	century, percent
circum	around	circumference, circumstance
contra/counter	against	contradict, encounter
dict	to say	dictation, dictator
duc/duct	to lead	conduct, induce
fac	to do; to make	factory, manufacture
form	shape	conform, reform
fort	strength	fortitude, fortress
fract	to break	fracture, fraction
ject	throw	projection, rejection
jud	judge	judicial, prejudice
mal	bad	malevolent, malefactor
mater	mother	material, maternity
mit	to send	transmit, admit
mort	death	mortal, mortician
multi	many	multimedia, multiple
pater	father	paternal, paternity
port	to carry	portable, transportation
rupt	to break	bankrupt, disruption
scrib/scribe	to write	inscription, prescribe
sect/sec	to cut	bisect, section
sent	to feel; to send	consent, resent
spect	to look	inspection, spectator
struct	to build	destruction, restructure
vid/vis	to see	video, televise
voc	voice; to call	vocalize, advocate

Common Greek Roots

Greek Root	Definition	Examples
anthropo	man; human; humanity	anthropologist, philanthropy
auto	self	autobiography, automobile
bio	life	biology, biography
chron	time	chronological, chronic
dyna	power	dynamic, dynamite
dys	bad; hard; unlucky	dysfunctional, dyslexic
gram	thing written	epigram, telegram
graph	writing	graphic, phonograph
hetero	different	heteronym, heterogeneous
homo	same	homonym, homogenous
hydr	water	hydration, dehydrate
hypo	below; beneath	hypothermia, hypothetical
logy	study of	biology, psychology
meter/metr	measure	thermometer, perimeter
micro	small	microbe, microscope
mis/miso	hate	misanthrope, misogyny
mono	one	monologue, monotonous
morph	form; shape	morphology, morphing
nym	name	antonym, synonym
phil	love	philanthropist, philosophy
phobia	fear	claustrophobia, phobic
phon	sound	phone, symphony
photo/phos	light	photograph, phosphorous
pseudo	false	pseudonym, pseudoscience
psycho	soul; spirit	psychology, psychic
scope	viewing instrument	microscope, telescope
techno	art; science; skill	technique, technological
tele	far off	television, telephone
therm	heat	thermal, thermometer

Related: Speech in the English Language

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SOURCES

https://support.pld-literacy.org/en-au/article/what-is-the-difference-between-base-words-and-root-words-bo9j3q/

https://topteachingtasks.com/using-morphology-to-teach-vocabulary/

McEwan, E.K. (2008). The Reading Puzzle: Word Analysis. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.