Grade Levels

4th Grade , 5th Grade , 6th Grade , 10th Grade , 12th Grade

Related Academic Standards

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Standards and Anchors

12.2.1.S2.E 

Use an English dictionary to find the meanings and origins of classical Latin or Greek words.

• Common suffixes and prefixes (e.g., pro-, anti-, anthro-)
• Legal terms (e.g., pro bono, habeas corpus)
• Common phrases (e.g., sui generis, quid pro quo)

1.1.3.B Use knowledge of phonics, word recognition (e.g., root words, prefixes, suffixes, and syllabication), and context clues to decode and understand new words during reading.

1.1.4.B Use knowledge of phonics (e.g., syllabication, root words, compound words, contractions, possessives, inflectional endings, prefixes, suffixes), the dictionary, or context clues to decode and understand new words during reading.

1.1.5.B Use knowledge of phonics (e.g., syllabication, root words, prefixes, suffixes), and the dictionary or context clues to decode and understand new words during reading.

R3.A.1.2.1 

Identify how the meaning of a word is changed when an affix is added; identify the meaning of a word from the text with an affix.

Note: Affixes will be limited to prefixes: re-, pre-, in-, un-, dis-, mis-, non-; suffixes: -ful, -less, -ble, -ly, -or, -ness, -ment. Target words should have either a prefix or a suffix, but not both. If a target word has a prefix, it will not also have an inflectional ending (-ing, -ed).

View All

Description

A suffix is a word part that can be attached to the end of a base/root word to form a new word.  It has its own definition but can not stand-alone.

Additionally, unlike a prefix, a suffix changes the part of speech and sometimes the meaning of the base/root word to which it is added.  Analyzing the base/root word and the suffix together create one new definition for a word. For example, the word reporter.

                                report + er

A report is a detailed document of a factual matter.  The suffix  '-er'  means 'one who, a person associated with'.  Thus, the word reporter means 'one who gives detailed information of a factual matter.'   

Note:
Sometimes a word will contain both a prefix and a suffix.  For example, counterclockwise.
  
                          counter + clock + wise
 
Counter- is a prefix meaning 'contrary/opposite.'  Clock is a device indicating time by means of hands moving on a dial.    -Wise is a suffix meaning 'showing how.'  Thus, counterclockwise means 'showing the opposite direction of the hands moving on a clock.'

There are two kinds of suffixes: inflectional and derivational.