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inflectional
/ˌɪnflɛkʃənəl/
What does "inflectional" mean?
relating to word forms that change to express grammatical functionsEnglish verbs have inflectional endings like -s for third-person singular.
This shows how verbs change to indicate tense or subject agreement.
How to use "inflectional" correctly?
technical
Relating to the modification of a word to express different grammatical categories such as tense, number, gender, or case.
The Latin language has rich inflectional morphology.
Latin words change their forms to show grammatical relationships.
English has limited inflectional endings compared to other languages.
English relies more on word order than inflectional changes.
Inflectional morphology is a key feature in many languages, though English uses it sparingly.
Collocations
inflectional endinga suffix or prefix added to a word to change its grammatical functioninflectional affixa morpheme added to a word stem to indicate grammatical information
Antonyms
Related Phrases
Pro Tip
Inflectional vs. Derivational
Inflectional changes (like adding -s for plural) alter grammatical function, while derivational changes (like adding -ness to form a noun) create new words.
Gold Rule
Grammatical Role
Inflectional changes always serve a grammatical purpose, such as indicating tense, number, or case.
Word Origin
From Latin 'inflectere' (to bend) + '-ional' (relating to).
Usage Notes
Inflectional changes are more common in languages like Latin, Greek, and Russian than in English.
Word Breakdown
in-
not
prefixflect
to bend
root-ional
relating to
suffixEnglish Dictionary