[v. uh-fiks; n. af-iks] 
| 1. | to fasten, join, or attach (usually fol. by to): to affix stamps to a letter. |
| 2. | to put or add on; append: to affix a signature to a contract. |
| 3. | to impress (a seal or stamp). |
| 4. | to attach (blame, reproach, ridicule, etc.). |
| 5. | something that is joined or attached. |
| 6. | Grammar. a bound inflectional or derivational element, as a prefix, infix, or suffix, added to a base or stem to form a fresh stem or a word, as -ed added to want to form wanted, or im- added to possible to form impossible. |
[a-fik-suhl] , af⋅fix⋅i⋅al [a-fik-see-uhl] , adjective | af·fix (ə-fĭks') tr.v. af·fixed, af·fix·ing, af·fix·es
[Medieval Latin affixāre, frequentative of Latin affīgere, affix- : ad-, ad- + fīgere, to fasten; see dhīgw- in Indo-European roots.] af·fix'a·ble adj., af'fix'al adj., af'fix'al·ly adv., af·fix'er n. |
affix
a grammatical element that is combined with a word, stem, or phrase to produce derived and inflected forms. There are three types of affixes: prefixes, infixes, and suffixes. A prefix occurs at the beginning of a word or stem (sub-mit, pre-determine, un-willing); a suffix at the end (wonder-ful, depend-ent, act-ion); and an infix occurs in the middle. English has no infixes, but they are found in American Indian languages, Greek, Tagalog, and elsewhere. Examples of English inflectional suffixes are illustrated by the -s of "cats," the -er of "longer," and the -ed of "asked." See also morphology
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