Circumfix

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A linguistic affix consisting of two parts placed at the beginning and the end of a root or stem to modify its meaning or grammatical function
2. A morphological element attached both before and after a base word to create a new word form or express grammatical distinctions
3. In grammar, a type of affix made up of a prefix and a suffix that surrounds a word to indicate tense, mood, or other linguistic features

Etymology: "Circumfix" is a grammatical term for an affix that wraps around a stem, with one part placed before it and another after, as in German "ge-...-t" in the past participle "gemacht." The word is built from "circum-," the Latin prefix meaning "around" (the same element that gives us "circumference" and "circumnavigate"), joined to "-fix," from Latin "fixus," the past participle of "figere," "to fasten." Put together, it describes a fixing that goes around something. The construction is a plain technical coinage in the vocabulary of linguistics, built from familiar classical parts. Its neatness lies in the fact that the two halves do exactly what they say: the circum- part wraps the stem on both sides, the same way the word itself names the pattern.

Synonyms: affix, morpheme