Prefixes and suffixes are types of?

The correct answer is that prefixes and suffixes are types of morphemes. Morphemes are the smallest units of meaning in a language. They can be whole words (free morphemes) or parts of words (bound morphemes). Prefixes, which are added to the beginning of a word, and suffixes, which are added to the end of a word, are examples of bound morphemes because they cannot stand alone and must be attached to free morphemes to convey meaning. For instance, in the word "unhappiness," "un-" is a prefix added to the root word "happy," and "-ness" is a suffix that modifies the meaning of "happy."

Understanding this concept is crucial for analyzing word formation and the meanings that can be derived from combining different morphemes. In contrast, word roots are the base parts of words from which other words can be formed but do not encompass the entire category of word modifications represented by prefixes and suffixes. Synonyms are words with similar meanings, and antonyms are words with opposite meanings, which are not related to the structure of words in terms of prefixes and suffixes.