In linguistic morphology, a transfix is a discontinuous affix, which occurs at more than one position in a word. The prototypical example comes from the Semitic languages, where nearly all word derivation and inflection involves the interdigitation of a discontinuous root with a discontinuous affix. For example, derivations and inflections of the Maltese discontinuous triliteral root |k-t-b| (to write)^[1] are shown below:

Transfixes on Maltese k-t-b

transfix	word	gloss
-i-e-	kiteb	"he wrote"
-i--u	kitbu	"they wrote"
mi--u-	miktub	"written"
--ie-	ktieb	"book"
-o--a	kotba	"books"

See also

• Nonconcatenative morphology
• Prefix
• Suffix
• Infix
• Circumfix
• Interfix
• Simulfix
• Suprafix
• Duplifix

References

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