Word family

base form of a word plus its inflected forms and derived forms made from affixes

A word family is the base form of a word plus its inflected forms made with affixes.[1]

The idea is that a base word and its inflected forms support the same core meaning. A learner needs to understand both the base word and the affix.

References

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  1. Hirsh D. & Nation P. 1992. What vocabulary size is needed to read unsimplified texts for pleasure?. Reading in a Foreign Language. 8. 689–696 [1][permanent dead link]
  • Bauer, L; Nation, P (1993), "Word Families" (PDF), International Journal of Lexicography, 6 (4): 253–279, doi:10.1093/ijl/6.4.253 (abstract)