Happy #morphememoday everyone! I hope you are having a great day. For anyone new to morphology, you can learn more about what morphemes are here.

This week we are featuring an Old English prefix, twin Latin roots, and a Greek suffix.

• Origin: Old English

  Definition: by, thoroughly, make, provide with

  Examples: beyond, below, berate, beseech, beneath

                       <be> + <got> + <en> -> begotten

                       <be> + <little> -> belittle

                       <be> + <muse> + <ed> -> bemused

                       <be> + <stow> -> bestow

                       <be> + <came> -> became

• Like most Old English morphemes, this prefix is actually more common than you think, and you can find it in many everyday words throughout the language

• Even though this prefix occurs frequently in our day to day language, it is one that is better to teach in context when the words come up.

• If you decide to teach this prefix explicitly, it would be one for teaching older students who already have a good repertoire of morphemes

• Origin: Latin

  Definition: make, do

  Examples: beneficiary, defect, effectively, infection, magnificent

                        <dis> + <in> + <fect> -> disinfect

                        <non> + <fict> + <ion> -> nonfiction

                        <pro> + <fic> + <i> + <ent> -> proficient

                        <con> + <fect> + <ion> -> confection

                        <de> + <fect> + <ion> -> defection

• These are a pair of twin roots/bases, which simply means they have alternate forms or spellings.

• These are some of the most common roots in the English language.

• You should take the time to explicitly teach these roots to students in the intermediate grades. They will frequently come across words that use these roots as a base element and it can help them understand the meaning of unknown words.

• 

  Origin: Greek

  Definition: signifying like

  Examples: sinusoid, celluloid, cycloid, solenoid, steroid

                        <aster> + <oid> -> asteroid

                        <human> + <oid> -> humanoid

                        <metal> + <oid> -> metalloid

                        <prism> + oid> -> prismoid

                        <planet> + <oid> -> planetoid

• Technically speaking, this would be considered a Greek combining form but it is often taught as a suffix.

• This is a perfect example of a suffix/combining form that you could teach during a science or mathematics lesson. If you look over the example words in for <oid> you will see that most of these words would typically be found in conversations related to those topics. When you first come across these words in your teaching, you should discuss how <oid> means that the object signifying the root/base element of the word. Then when you come across a term using it, you can quickly revisit the meaning of <oid> in context. This can help solidify its meaning to students and help them discover the meaning of words containing <oid> in the future.

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