Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
🎶 A new remix 🔤 To add a prefix 🔧 To fix again
to refix

to refix

7.4
To put letters at the start of a word to change its meaning
  • verb
  • /ˈriːfɪks/
  • Specialized
translation icon : prefijar
  • In some languages, it is common to refix verbs to create new forms.

Examples

  • Linguists sometimes refix words to study how their meanings change.

  • The teacher explained how to refix a word to give it a different meaning.

  • You can refix the word for clarity.

  • The teacher refixes terms to help students understand.

  • Linguists often refix certain words to analyze their semantic transformations.

  • To create a new tense, you might need to refix some verbs in this language.

  • The professor demonstrated how to refix a term by adding a prefix for clarity.

Surface Forms

refix infinitive
refixed past
refixed past participle
refixing present participle
refixes third person singular

Morphology

refix = fix (semi-transparent) = re + fix

The structure re- + fix is visible, but the specialized linguistic sense 'attach a prefix' depends on 'fix' meaning 'attach' rather than the more common 'repair', which may not be obvious to learners.

Etymology

Refix is built from re- 'again' and fix 'to attach', and in linguistics it means to add a prefix (a small part put at the start) to a word, so you are literally 'attaching' something to the front of the word.