circumFIXes

Circumfixes are a type of affix in morphology that surround a word stem with two parts: a prefix that precedes the stem and a suffix that follows it. Together these two pieces form a single morpheme that cannot be attached as a simple prefix or suffix alone. In many languages the circumfix marks grammatical information such as tense, aspect, voice, or participle formation, rather than deriving a new word from a different stem.

The defining feature of circumfixes is their discontinuous shape: one piece sits before the stem while the other sits after it, effectively wrapping the stem. This contrasts with simple prefixes or suffixes that attach only to one side of the stem. In analysis, the pair is treated as one unit of morphology, even though it appears in two separate positions.

Commonly cited examples come from Germanic languages. In German, many past participles are formed with the circumfix ge- around the stem and a final -t or -en, as in machen becoming gemacht or finden becoming gefunden. Other examples include gehen becoming gegangen and arbeiten becoming gearbeitet. The exact form of the circumfix can vary by tense, aspect, or voice and may interact with phonology and stem changes.

Circumfixes occur in various language families and are a recognizable strategy for expressing grammatical categories that are not easily captured by a single affix. They are studied within morphological typology and computational linguistics as a distinct type of discontinuous affix, alongside infixes and suffixes.