WORD FORMATION STUDY GUIDE

Morpheme

The smallest unit of language that has meaning or a grammatical function.

Affixation

The process of adding an affix to a base or root word to create a new word or change its grammatical form.

Derivation

The process of forming a new word by adding an affix to an existing word, often changing its meaning or word class.

Compounding

The process of combining two or more complete words to form a new word.

Clipping

The process of shortening a longer word while keeping its original meaning.

Back Formation

The process of creating a new word by removing a part of an existing word, often making a shorter word from a longer one.

Blending

The process of combining parts of two or more words to form a new word

Initialism

An abbreviation formed from the first letters of words, with each letter pronounced separately.

Acronymy

The process of forming a word from the initial letters or parts of a phrase, where the resulting form is pronounced as a word.

Conversion

The process of changing a word from one grammatical category to another without changing its form.

Coinage

The creation of a completely new word, often because of a new product, brand, technology, or idea.

Morpheme

smallest meaningful unit.

Affixation

adding a prefix or suffix.

Derivation

creating a new word through affixation.

Compounding

word + word.

Clipping

shortening a word.