Common letter combinations at the beginning of words are referred to as?

The term that refers to common letter combinations at the beginning of words is "prefixes." Prefixes are important in language as they modify the meanings of base words to create new words. For example, adding the prefix "un-" to the word "happy" forms "unhappy," which carries the opposite meaning. Understanding prefixes helps in decoding and constructing meanings in vocabulary.

Suffixes are letter combinations that appear at the end of words and change word forms, such as "ness" in "happiness," while roots are the fundamental parts of words that provide their primary meaning, often derived from Latin or Greek. Stems refer to parts of words that can include roots and may also connect to prefixes or suffixes, but they are not exclusively at the beginning. Therefore, the correct term for the beginning letter combinations is indeed "prefixes."