DerivationDerivation is the formation of a word by adding one or more Prefixes and Suffixes to a Root (truck + er = trucker; camion + -eur = camionneur). Composition is the formation of words from two or more words which can exist independently (sports + utility + vehicle = sports utility vehicle; camion + citerne = camion-citerne (tanker or tank truck)).
The part of a word which carries its main lexical meaning is called its Root. In camionneur, camion is the Root and eur is the Suffix. In recommencer, re is the Prefix and commencer the Root. There are often little changes in spelling, such as doubling letters, when words are derived from other words. When you come across an unknown word, provided that it can be divided into more than one part, looking at the Root (or Roots) is the first step towards working out its meaning.
Working from Greek and LatinYou may not know any Greek or Latin, but you probably know the meaning of lots of Latin and Greek word parts, such as tele for far, phono for sound, etc. French is very fond of Latin and Greek roots, prefixes and suffixes. These are used of course in most languages for scientific terms (paradichlorobenzène, acide acétylsalicylique, carbonate de soude, etc. ). However, even in everyday language, Latin and Greek roots are more common in French.
New words, in computer science for example, are often formed on Greek or Latin roots:
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