There are several different ways to form new words, and they can be categorized into different types:
1. Affixation:
* Prefixation: Adding a prefix to the beginning of a word (e.g., "un-" + "happy" = "unhappy")
* Suffixation: Adding a suffix to the end of a word (e.g., "care" + "-ful" = "careful")
2. Compounding: Combining two or more words to create a new word (e.g., "sun" + "flower" = "sunflower")
3. Conversion: Changing the grammatical function of a word without adding any affixes (e.g., "Google" (noun) becomes "to google" (verb))
4. Blending: Combining parts of two words to create a new word (e.g., "smoke" + "fog" = "smog")
5. Acronymy: Forming a new word from the first letters of a phrase (e.g., "NATO" = "North Atlantic Treaty Organization")
6. Clipping: Shortening a word (e.g., "telephone" becomes "phone")
7. Back-formation: Creating a new word by removing a supposed affix from an existing word (e.g., "television" becomes "televise")
These are just some of the ways new words are created. The process of word formation is constantly evolving, and new words are being created all the time!