Interfix

Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. Interfix is a term in linguistics and more specifically, morphology. It describes an affix which is placed in between two other morphemes and does not have a semantic meaning. Unlike other affixes, like prefixes or suffixes, an interfix is attached to two different morphemes and thus differs from seemingly similar infix, which is inserted in the middle of one morpheme. In German, the interfix -s- has to be used between certain, but not all nouns, such as Arbeitszimmer as opposed to Schlafzimmer. In English, when technical compound words are formed from non-technical roots, an -o- interfix is sometimes used, as o has come to be seen as a connecting vowel: Speed-o-meter, mile-o-meter, by analogy to tacho-meter, odo-meter, and nonsense words such as obscen-o-meter.