I just started to dig into suffixes and prefixes. But I couldn't understand how do they exactly change the meaning of the word that they are appended.
For example re- means again, retake means take again. Inter- means between, but interact means acting in a way that you have an effect on something. Interact has no connection with between. Why is that?
Inter- has the following definitions:
- Between; among.
‘inter-agency’, ‘interblend’- Mutually; reciprocally.
‘interactive’
The between is the fourth definition:
Indicating a connection or relationship involving two or more parties.
According to Etymonline, interact means:
"act on each other, act reciprocally," 1805, from inter- + act (v.).
In addition, Lexico defines it thus:
- Act in such a way as to have an effect on each other.
"Inter-" means between separate bodies/particles, within the macro scope.
Opposite of, "Itra-" meaning between constituents of a single body/particle, within the micro scope.
Therefore, "Inter-Action" refers to an action that takes place between 2 (or more) separate bodies.
As opposed to the theoretical "Intra-Action", which would refer to an action taking place between the constituents of a single body.
An example of celestial Inter-Action may be, the gravitational pull between a sun and the planets that revolve around it.
Notice how the sun and the planets are separate celestial bodies, that are acting upon each other.
Examples of celestial Intra-Action may be: the atmospheric weather patterns, volcanic activity and tectonic drift experienced within a planet's exo-sphere; or the solar flares, nuclear fusion and convection experienced within a sun/star.
Notice how these activities take place within the celestial bodies, but are the "Inter-Actions" of their constituents.
The prefixes "Inter-" and "Intra-" are really just references to scopes, relative to the scope of the topic, or of the body of topic. (For which in the above example, was "Celestial".)
re-not-re. Not all words starting with what appears to be a suffix are suffixed.