Derivation is the formation of a new word or inflectable stem from another word or stem. It typically occurs by the addition of an affix.

The derived word is often of a different word class from the original. It may thus take the inflectional affixes of the new word class.

In contrast to inflection, derivation:

• is not obligatory
• typically produces a greater change of meaning from the original form, and
• is more likely to result in a form which has a somewhat idiosyncratic meaning.
• often changes the grammatical category of a root

This page is an extract from the LinguaLinks Library. Version 5.0 published on CD-ROM by SIL International, 2003.

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