By Laura Payne
Even though children may not realize what they are doing or know the technical term for it, they actually begin using affixes at a very young age when they pluralize regular nouns by adding a suffix. They add an s sound to cat when they are talking about more than one cat, a z sound to dog when they are talking about more than one dog, and an iz sound to wish when they are talking about more than one wish.
Children continue to add basic suffixes and even prefixes to their verbal vocabulary before learning to read and write, for example, “I walked the dog” and “I untied my shoes.” It is when they learn to read and write that the process of attaching affixes to root words becomes visibly perceptible to children.
What is a Root Word and What Are Affixes?
Root word: the basic form of a word with no attached affixes.
Prefix: A meaningful unit of language added to the beginning of root word to create a new meaning.
Suffix: A meaningful unit of language added to the end of root word to create a new meaning.
How Root Word and Affix Knowledge Improve Language Skills
When children enter grade school, they learn more and more affixes and their meanings. Knowing what affixes are and how they are added to root words allows children to expand their vocabulary by building new words. It also helps them figure out the definitions of unfamiliar words when they are able to identify the root word in a word with affixes, for example, knowing that add is the root word in addition and additional makes it much easier to figure out the word meanings.
Playing With the Building Blocks
You can help your children improve their language skills by playing with root words and affixes.
Using a package of index cards, make 8 prefix cards, 8 suffix cards and 10 root word cards. Write one prefix on the front of a card and the meaning of the prefix on the back. Do the same for suffixes.
Here are eight common prefixes and eight common suffixes with their meanings (some suffixes have spelling variations):
| Prefixes | Suffixes | ||
| un- | not, opposite of | -er, -or | person connected with, comparative degree |
| over- | too much, above | -est | superlative degree |
| re- | again, back | -ful | full of |
| dis- | not, opposite of | -less | without |
| pre- | before | -ly | characteristic of |
| non- | not | -ness | condition, state of |
| mis- | bad or badly, wrong or wrongly | -able -ible | can be done |
| de- | reduce down away from | -ation, - ion, ition, -tion | act of, state of, result of |
Here are ten basic root words:
Write hope tall work joy friend bright act like stop
Once the cards are completed, place the prefixes face-up on the left side of a table and the suffixes face-up on the right side of a table. Have each player take a turn selecting a root word card and then use the prefix and suffix cards to build the biggest word they can.
Here are a couple of examples: rewritable unfriendliness
Adding Cards
As your children encounter new affixes in their daily life, have them write them down and make new cards to add to the game. Have them do this for new root words too. The more cards you add to the game, the more creative everyone can be, and the more fun it is.
Defining Unfamiliar Words
If your children keep track of longer words that they come across and can’t define, the next time you play the game, they can use the prefix and suffix cards to try to determine the meaning of these words too.
About Laura Payne
A self-confessed language nerd, Laura Payne is the mother of two boys, and she is a part-time English teacher. She has also done freelance writing about several topics including the structure and grammar of English.
