Where Do Prefixes and Suffixes Come from?

In English, there are no inflectional prefixes; English uses suffixes instead for that purpose. The word prefix is itself made up of the stem fix (meaning "attach", in this case), and the prefix pre- (meaning "before"), both of which are derived from Latin roots.

Where did the suffix come from?

'Suffix' is a Latin word, and it can be split up into sub- 'under, after' and fixus, the passive perfect participle of figō 'fix, fasten, stick to, bore through'. Literally, it just means '[something] stuck to the bottom/end (of …)'.

Why do we have prefixes and suffixes?

Prefixes and suffixes are added to words to change them. Prefixes are added to change the meaning of the root word. Suffixes are added so that the word will make grammatical sense in a sentence.