root word A root word has no prefix or suffix — it's the most basic part of a word. The root word at the heart of "conformity," for example, is "form." In linguistics, a root word holds the most basic meaning of any word. It's what's left after you remove all the affixes — the prefixes like "un-" or "anti-" and suffixes such as "-able" and "-tion." With a word like "lovely," when you take away the suffix "-ly," you're left with the root word "love." Other words, like "schoolhouse" and "armchair," are made up of two root words together. taken from https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/root%20word
prefix A prefix is affix that's added in front of a word and often changes the meaning of it. Common prefixes include re-,un-, and mis-. Lots of words have a prefix, and it's sometimes easier to figure out the meaning of those words if you know the meaning of the prefix. For example, the super- means "above" or "over"; hypo- and infra- mean "under." Prefix itself has a prefix: pre-, which means "before." In fact, the Latin root of prefix is praefixus, meaning "fixed in front." (Note our word's opposite here, suffix, which describes what is fixed at the back of a word.) taken from https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/root%20word
suffix Also found in: Thesaurus, Medical, Legal, Acronyms, Idioms, Encyclopedia, Wikipedia.suf·fix (sŭf′ĭks) n. An affixadded to theend of a word or stem,serving to form a newword or functioning as an inflectionalending,such as -ness in gentleness,-ing in walking, or -s in sits. tr.v.suf·fixed, suf·fix·ing, suf·fix·es To add as a suffix. taken from http://www.thefreedictionary.com/suffix
etymology [et-uh-mol-uh-jee] noun, plural etymologies. 1. the derivation of a word. Synonyms: word origin, word source, derivation, origin. 2. a chronological account of the birth and development of a particular word or element of a word, often delineating its spread from one language to another and its evolving changes in form and meaning. Synonyms: word history, word lore, historical development. 3. the study of historical linguistic change, especially as manifested in individual words. taken from http://www.dictionary.com/browse/etymology