infix
/ɪnˈfɪks/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: 1.76 in modern English
15
Scrabble Score
5
Letters
2
Syllables
4
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
An affix inserted inside a root, such as -ma- in English edumacation.
noun
A prefix that is not at the beginning of a word, such as the con- of reconcile, or a suffix that is not at the end of a word, such as the -al of nationality.
Example Sentences
- "to infix a sting, spear, or dart"
- "[…] in her eye I find A wonder, or a wondrous miracle, The shadow of myself form’d in her eye: Which being but the shadow of your son, Becomes a sun and makes your son a shadow: I do protest I never loved myself Till now infixed I beheld myself Drawn in the flattering table of her eye."
- "The fatal Dart a ready Passage found, And deep within his Heart infix’d the Wound:"
- "Consider that innumerable race of insects, which either are bred on the body of each animal, or flying about infix their stings in him."
- "Gnawed within and scorched without, with the infixed, unrelenting fangs of some incurable idea; such an one, could he be found, would seem the very man to dart his iron and lift his lance against the most appalling of all brutes."
- "I am not pleased with one or two of the noun cases (they are too similar to others) and I want to change the way that the Focus category (see Section 3.5 of the grammar) is manifested (using word-order instead of an infix or other phonological marker). All in all, the language is structured almost exactly as I wanted."
Etymology
Back-formation from Middle English infixed (“stuck in”), from Latin infixus, past participle of infigō (“to fasten in”).
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ɪnˈfɪks/
- British English: /ɪnˈfɪks/
Usage
Subject
Wiktionary places this term in Linguistics.