Expertlatin
'Root words' come from Greek or Latin, whereas, 'base words' are meaningful, individual words that can stand alone.
- What is an example of a base or root word?
- What are examples of base words?
- What is the difference between root word and stem?
What is an example of a base or root word?
A base word can stand alone and has meaning (for example, help). A suffix is a word part added to the end of a word (for example, -ful). If you add the suffix -ful to the base word, help, the word is helpful. A prefix is a word part added to the beginning of a word or base word (for example, un-).
What are examples of base words?
A base word is not derived from or made up of other words and has no prefixes or suffixes (for example, 'action', 'activity', 'activate', 'react' are all words built from the base word 'act').
What is the difference between root word and stem?
A root differs partially from a stem in that a stem must have lexical meaning. A root has no lexical meaning and the semantic range of the root is vague if there is any at all. A stem may contain derivational affixes.
