Apedia

Infixes Word Inflectional August Noun In Fiks Prefixes Suffixes

Word infix
Date August 5, 2021
Type noun
Syllables IN-fiks
Etymology Like prefixes and suffixes, infixes are part of the general class of affixes ("sounds or letters attached to or inserted within a word to produce a derivative word or an inflectional form"). Infixes are relatively rare in English, but you can find them in the plural forms of some words. For example, cupful, spoonful, and passerby can be pluralized as cupsful, spoonsful, and passersby, using "s" as an infix. Another example is the insertion of an (often offensive) intensifier into a word, as in "fan-freakin'-tastic." Such whole-word insertions are sometimes called infixes, though this phenomenon is more traditionally known as tmesis.
Examples The Philippine language of Tagalog adds infixes such as -um- and -su- to verbs to convey different tenses and voices.

"As Mark Peters writes, [The Simpsons character Ned Flanders] is 'hyper-holy,' and his infixes sanctify a typically profane process. He is also gratingly cheerful … and diddly perfectly conveys his sunny attitude: murder and dilemma sound a lot less forbidding when infixed as murdiddlyurder and dididdlyemma…." —Michael Adams, Slang: The People’s Poetry, 2009
Definition : a derivational or inflectional affix appearing in the body of a word (such as Sanskrit -n- in vindami "I know" as contrasted with vid "to know")

Tags: wordoftheday::noun

Learn with these flashcards. Click next, previous, or up to navigate to more flashcards for this subject.

Next card: Flexuous fluid pine august adjective flek-shuh-wus synonym curvy

Previous card: Moot academic judicial courts students cases practical austin

Up to card list: Word of the Day