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What is the difference between stem and affix?

stem | affix |

In linguistic morphology terms the difference between stem and affix

is that stem is the main part of an uninflected word to which affixes may be added to form inflections of the word. A stem often has a more fundamental root. Systematic conjugations and declensions derive from their stems while affix is a bound morpheme added to a word’s stem; formerly applied only to suffixes (also called postfixes), the term as now used comprises prefixes, suffixes, infixes, circumfixes, and suprafixes.

As nouns the difference between stem and affix

is that stem is the stock of a family; a race or generation of progenitors while affix is that which is affixed; an appendage.

As verbs the difference between stem and affix

is that stem is to remove the stem from while affix is to attach.

stem

English

(wikipedia stem)

Etymology 1

(etyl) stemn, .

Noun

(en noun)
  • The stock of a family; a race or generation of progenitors.
  • * Milton
    • all that are of noble stem
  • * Herbert
    • While I do pray, learn here thy stem / And true descent.
  • A branch of a family.
  • * Shakespeare
    • This is a stem / Of that victorious stock.
  • An advanced or leading position; the lookout.
  • * Fuller
    • Wolsey sat at the stem more than twenty years.
  • (botany) The above-ground stalk (technically axis) of a vascular plant, and certain anatomically similar, below-ground organs such as rhizomes, bulbs, tubers, and corms.
  • * Sir Walter Raleigh
    • After they are shot up thirty feet in length, they spread a very large top, having no bough nor twig in the trunk or the stem .
  • A slender supporting member of an individual part of a plant such as a flower or a leaf; also, by analogy, the shaft of a feather.
    • the stem of an apple or a cherry
  • *
  • A narrow part on certain man-made objects, such as a wine glass, a tobacco pipe, a spoon.
  • (linguistic morphology) The main part of an uninflected]] word to which affixes may be added to form inflections of the word. A stem often has a more fundamental root. Systematic conjugations and [[declension, declensions derive from their stems.
  • (typography) A vertical stroke of a letter.
  • (music) A vertical stroke of a symbol representing a note in written music.
  • (nautical) The vertical or nearly vertical forward extension of the keel, to which the forward ends of the planks or strakes are attached.
    • Derived terms
    * brain stem * from stem to stern * stem cell * stemless * stemplot * unstemmed

    Verb

    (stemm)
  • To remove the stem from.
    • to stem''' cherries; to '''stem tobacco leaves
  • To be caused]] or [[derive, derived; to originate.
    • The current crisis stems from the short-sighted politics of the previous government.
  • To descend in a family line.
  • To direct the stem (of a ship) against; to make headway against.
  • (obsolete) To hit with the stem of a ship; to ram.
  • * 1596 , Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene , IV.ii:
    • As when two warlike Brigandines at sea, / With murdrous weapons arm'd to cruell fight, / Doe meete together on the watry lea, / They stemme ech other with so fell despight, / That with the shocke of their owne heedlesse might, / Their wooden ribs are shaken nigh a sonder
  • To ram (clay, etc.) into a blasting hole.

    • Etymology 2

    From (etyl) . Cognate with German stemmen, Dutch stemmen, stempen; compare (stammer).

    Verb

    (stemm)
  • To stop, hinder (for instance, a river or blood).
    • to stem a tide
  • * Denham
    • [They] stem the flood with their erected breasts.
  • * Alexander Pope
    • Stemmed the wild torrent of a barbarous age.
  • (skiing) To move the feet apart and point the tips of the skis inward in order to slow down the speed or to facilitate a turn.
    • Synonyms
    * (sense) to be due to, to arise from * See also

    Etymology 3

    Noun

    (en noun)

    • External links

    * * *

    Anagrams

    * ----

    affix

    English

    (wikipedia affix)

    Noun

    (es)
  • That which is affixed; an appendage.
  • (linguistic morphology) A bound morpheme added to a word’s stem; formerly applied only to suffixes (also called postfixes), the term as now used comprises prefixes, suffixes, infixes, circumfixes, and suprafixes.
  • (mathematics) The complex number a+bi associated to the point in the Gauss Plane with coordinates (a,b).

    • Antonyms

    * nonaffix

    Hyponyms

    * (affixes)

    Coordinate terms

    * clitic

    Verb

    (es)
  • To attach.
  • * Ray
    • Should they [caterpillars] affix them to the leaves of a plant improper for their food
    to affix''' a stigma to a person; to '''affix ridicule or blame to somebody
  • To subjoin, annex, or add at the close or end; to append to.
    • to affix''' a syllable to a word; to '''affix''' a seal to an instrument; to '''affix one's name to a writing
  • To fix or fasten figuratively; with on'' or ''upon .
    • eyes affixed upon the ground
    (Spenser)