What is the definition of affixes?

An affix is a morpheme (a meaningful unit of language) that is added to a word to create a new word or to modify its meaning. Affixes can be prefixes, suffixes, or infixes.

Here's a breakdown:

* Prefixes are added to the beginning of a word (e.g., unhappy, prerecorded).

* Suffixes are added to the end of a word (e.g., happiness, recordedly).

* Infixes are inserted within a word (e.g., abso-bloody-lutely). Infixes are less common in English than prefixes and suffixes.

Key points about affixes:

* They are generally bound morphemes, meaning they can't stand alone as words.

* They can change the part of speech of a word (e.g., "happy" (adjective) to "happily" (adverb)).

* They can change the meaning of a word (e.g., "happy" to "unhappy").

Examples of affixes:

* Prefixes: re-, un-, pre-, dis-, in-, mis-

* Suffixes: -ing, -ed, -er, -est, -ly, -ness, -ment

* Infixes: (less common in English) -bloody-, -freakin-

Understanding affixes is crucial for understanding word formation and meaning in English.