Discipline-Specific Academic Words with Common Affixes

Academic words tend to be longer, and for the most part, the length is due to prefixes and suffixes. Although the same common prefixes and derivational suffixes occur in academic words across the content areas, the words themselves are often discipline specific.

COMMON AFFIX	ELA	MATH	SCIENCE	SOCIAL STUDIES
con–	context contrast	concave convex	condense conserve	congress contract
re–	recite retell	regroup reverse	refract repel	repeal revolt
–al	journal verbal	cardinal nominal	crustal thermal	postal royal
–ation	dictation narration	negation operation	fermentation rotation	taxation corporation