| inflection |
| Definition - The modifying of a word to show grammatical information such as possession, person, mood, tense, or number. Note: This is in contrast to derivation where affixes are used to create new words. |
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Example - I want --> I wanted (In the above the inflection changes the tense.) |
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Etymology - The word derives from the Latin inflectere, to bend in or change. |
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Oxford English Dictionary - Its first citation in its grammatical sense is from 1668: "The rules which are proper and peculiar to any one Language … about the Inflexion of words, and the Government of cases." (Wilkins Real Char., 297) |
