Affixes VIII: eks-, fi-, -acx-, -cxj-, -nj-

eks- strips the title and leaves the person standing. Edzo gives eksedzo, reĝo gives eksreĝo, prezidanto gives eksprezidanto, membro gives eksmembro. The root keeps its ending, and the prefix works as a verb root in its own right: eksigi is to dismiss somebody, eksiĝi is to resign.

It needs a role that can be held and then lost. Ekspatro is nonsense, because nobody stops being a father, and native-feeling Esperanto simply refuses the combination.

For former in the weaker sense of earlier, reach for antaŭa or iama instead. And note that eksedziĝi is the act of divorcing, not a vague memory of having once been married.

fi- is moral disgust welded onto the front of a word. Homo gives fihomo, a scoundrel; afero gives fiafero, a shady business; vorto gives fivorto, a swear word; besto gives fibesto. The root keeps its ending and its part of speech.

The prefix is the interjection fi, the noise of disapproval, pressed into service. That interjection owns the plain slug on this site, which is why this page sits at fi- with the hyphen showing.

The trap is a field of decoys. Fidela, fidi, fiera, fingro, fini, fiksi and firma merely start with those two letters; none carries a grain of the prefix.

Set it against -aĉ-. A domaĉo is a badly built house. A fidomo is a house where something wicked goes on.

-aĉ- pours contempt on the quality of the thing. Domo gives domaĉo, a hovel; vetero gives veteraĉo; ĉevalo gives ĉevalaĉo, a nag; and on a verb, skribi gives skribaĉi, to scrawl. The root keeps whatever ending it had.

It is scorn, not size. A domaĉo may be an enormous wretched house, while a dometo is a small one and might be perfectly charming. -et- measures, -aĉ- judges.

The line against fi- is worth drawing carefully. -aĉ- is aesthetic or practical contempt: an instruistaĉo simply teaches badly. fi- is a moral verdict: a fiinstruisto abuses the post. On verbs the same split holds, careless against wicked.

-ĉj- is the affix that eats its own root. Every other suffix in Esperanto attaches to the whole word; this one requires you to chop the root back to roughly one, two or three letters first, then add -ĉjo. So patro shortens to pa and becomes paĉjo, dad. Frato gives fraĉjo, Johano gives Joĉjo, Vilhelmo gives Vilĉjo. The result is always a noun in -o.

The clipping is deliberate and its length is up to you, which is why Joĉjo and Johaĉjo are both formable. What nobody says is patroĉjo, with the root left whole.

Its female mirror is -nj-, which clips the same way: patrino becomes panjo. And do not reach for -et- here. Patreto is a small father, not your dad.

-nj- is the female half of the pet-name pair, and like -ĉj- it clips the root before it attaches. Patrino cuts back to pa and becomes panjo, mum. Fratino gives franjo, onklino gives onjo, Maria gives Manjo, Sofia gives Sonjo. The result is a noun in -o.

Notice what the clipping removes. Cutting patrino back to pa throws away the -in- as well, so the femininity now rides entirely on -nj- itself. Putting the suffix back is wrong: there is no panjino, and patrinjo is not how anyone writes it either.

Affection, not size, is the point. Patrineto is a small mother. Panjo is your mum, whatever height she happens to be.