Let's say I have a word like unhappy.
The "un" is called the prefix. What is the other bit called?
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2See also: Morpheme– NVZ ♦Commented Jul 5, 2016 at 12:33
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16Obviously it's the "fix" ... prefix means before the fix right? Right?! I'll show myself out.– aslumCommented Jul 5, 2016 at 16:33
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J E Littlewood noted in his Miscellany that the longest word in English, antidisestablishmentarianism, is all 'form' except for the content 'sto'– HenryCommented Jul 5, 2016 at 21:11
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3 Answers
Root noun [C] (of a word):
- The root of a word is its most basic form, to which other parts, such as affixes, can be added: The root of the word "sitting" is "sit".
Cambridge Dictionary
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1I'm not sure that's exactly answering the question. What is the root of "disintegrating"? (Probably "disintegrat" or "integrat", but not "integrating," right?) Commented Jul 5, 2016 at 19:02
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6@ChristopherCreutzig The root word for "disintegrating" is "integrate". Then you add the "dis" prefix and "ing" suffix, apply the rule in English for when you add an "ing" to a word with a silent "e" and you get "disintegrating"– KevinCommented Jul 5, 2016 at 20:57
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1@ChristopherCreutzig -teg- (meaning touch, as in the game of tag)– HenryCommented Jul 5, 2016 at 21:15
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@Henry: -teg- doesn't stand as a word in its own right, so it isn't the root in the sense of the OP's question. The OP isn't asking about the etymological root. Kevin Wells is correct in giving the root of disintegrating as integrate. Commented Jul 6, 2016 at 4:20
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@KevinWells: Exactly my point. The question here was, if I read it literally, what to call "integrating," which is what you get after removing the "dis" prefix. Commented Jul 6, 2016 at 5:25
This may be the math talking, but the word 'base' is commonly used to describe the word that a prefix or suffix can be added to.
the root or stem of a word or a derivative.
- the uninflected form of a verb.
-Oxford [2010]
I would like to note that (take this maths) that derivative would not quite work, as it means
a word derived from another or from a root in the same or another language.
