Word stem

From Freepedia

A stem, in linguistics, is the combination of the basic form of a word (called the root) plus any derivational morphemes, but excluding inflectional elements. (This means, alternatively, that the stem is the form of the word to which inflectional morphemes can be added, if applicable.)

If the definition of a stem includes the possibility of zero derivation, then any root is also a stem. That is, if X is a root, then a stem X can be conceived as the root X plus a zero derivational affix.

Stems are usually not distinct from normal forms of the word in the English language, since inflection has largely become discarded. However, in other languages, stems are more noticeable, although in many languages they are identical to the masculine form of the word.

Example

The English root fox gives the following stems (among others):

• fox (noun, zero derivation)
• foxed (adjective, with the addition of the derivational affix -ed)

The stems can then then be inflected to form

• foxes (plural form, from the addition of the suffix es)
• foxen (feminine form, from the addition of the suffix en)
  • sound change adjusted this to vixen