This paper sets out to make a comparative study of affixes and their formation of words in English and Chinese. The article begins with the exposition of the nature, source, and characteristics of affixes in the two languages, and then discusses the actual formation of words, focusing on the discrepancy in such respects as number, position, function, representation and the trend of development and causes of the differences as well. It is found that affixation in the two languages manifests more differences than similarities,which rev...