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    mis-
    quickinfo

    The negative prefix mis- derives nouns on the basis of other nouns. Derivations with mis- always indicate disapproval. An example is rekken bill > misrekken miscalculation.

    Note that there is another prefix mis- that derives verbs.

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    [+]General properties

    Examples of derivations with mis- are listed below:

    Table 1
    Base form Derivation
    begryp understanding misbegryp misunderstanding
    ferstân mind misferstân misunderstanding
    gebrûk use misbrûk abuse
    die(d) act misdie(d) crime
    stap step misstap lapse
    rekken bill misrekken miscalculation
    slach stroke misslach mishit
    In Frisian mis also exists as an independent adjective, meaning wrong, of target, from which the prefix must have been grammaticalized; it should therefore rather be considered a prefixoid. It can be difficult to distinguish between the prefix and the adjective if besides the derivation with the prefix mis-, one also finds a phrase containing the adjective mis. However, apart from a stress difference and the occurrence of inflectional suffixes with the adjective, there is often also a slight difference in meaning. Examples are listed below:

    Table 2
    Derivation Phrase
    misset lapse misse set wrong move
    miswurd indecent word mis wurd wrong word
    misdei lost day misse dei wrong day
    misreis miscarriage misse reis wrong carriage
    [+]Phonological properties

    The prefix is pronounced as [mɪs]. The stress is on the prefix, for instance geBRÛK use > MISbrûk abuse. In this example one can also truncation of the prefix ge- in the base word gebrûk use. It should be noted that in the phrases with the adjective mis, the main stress is not on the adjective, but on the noun.

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    Literature

    This topic is based on Hoekstra (1998:69-70).

    References
    • Hoekstra, Jarich1998Fryske wurdfoarmingLjouwertFryske Akademy
    About this article
    Author(s): Siebren Dyk, Gerbrich de Jong
    Category: Frisian Morphology
    Keywords: prefixnounprefixoid
    Version: 1.0, July 2017
    Version history:
    version editor(s) date remarks
    1.0 Siebren Dyk July 2017
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