Which term describes words formed by combining bound affixes with free morphemes?

Which term describes words formed by combining bound affixes with free morphemes?

• A. Affixation
• B. Compounding
• C. Derivation
• D. Inflection

Answer: (A)

Affixation is the process of forming words by attaching bound morphemes to free morphemes. Bound affixes like prefixes and suffixes can’t stand alone, so they attach to a base such as act to form react or reaction, or attach to happy to form unhappy or happiness. This distinguishes affixation from compounding, which joins two or more free morphemes (like book + case to make bookcase), and from inflection, which changes a word’s form for tense, number, or case without creating a new word. Derivation is a type of affixation that often changes meaning or the part of speech, but the broad description in the question points to affixation.