Words with Stacked Affixes

Decode words that carry two or more prefixes or suffixes at once.

Many academic words carry more than one affix, stacked like layers. The trick is to work from the base outward and track what each layer adds. Take 'nonrefundable'. Base: fund (money). Re- + fund: refund, to pay money back. Refund + -able: refundable, can be paid back. Non- + refundable: cannot be paid back. Each layer changes the meaning in a predictable way.

Now 'reorganization': organ (from a Greek word for tool) + -ize gives organize, to arrange; re- gives reorganize, arrange again; -ation gives reorganization, the act of arranging again. Stacks can also contain two suffixes: 'carelessness' is care + -less (without) + -ness (the state of), the state of being without care. When a word looks impossibly long, count its layers, strip them one at a time down to a base you recognize, then rebuild upward, saying the meaning of each new layer aloud.

Long words are almost always short words wearing coats.

• 1Some words carry several affixes in layers.
• 2Strip down to the base, then rebuild one layer at a time.
• 3Say the meaning of each layer as you rebuild.