Question

Which of the following is an example of prefixation?

• A. Kind → kindness
• B. Love → loved
• C. Happy → unhappy
• D. Friend → friendship

Answer 1

Answer:

C. Happy → unhappy

Prefixation is the process of adding a prefix to the beginning of a root word to form a new word—often changing its meaning.

• "un-" is a prefix added to "happy" → "unhappy", which reverses the meaning.

Let’s look at why the other options are not prefixation:

• A. Kind → kindness: This is suffixation (-ness is a suffix).

• B. Love → loved: This is inflection, adding -ed for past tense.

• D. Friend → friendship: Also suffixation (-ship is a suffix).