Abstract This article analyzes the grammaticalization of adjectives into prefixes in Dutch and French. In the first part, the notion of ‘affixoids’, hybrid elements that combine properties of free lexemes and bound morphemes, will be defined and illustrated. It will be claimed that affixoids can be seen as a result of a grammati- calization process for which we will advance phonological, morphological, semantic and distributional parameters applying to the evolution of adjectives into prefixes. The second part will be devoted to a specific case study in which these grammaticalization parameters will be applied to the Dutch adjectives oud ‘old’ and nieuw ‘new’ and their French counterparts ancien ‘old’ and nouveau ‘new’ when used in word-formation. More particularly, we will examine whether these adjec- tives may develop prefix-like properties when embedded in a compound structure and determine their degree of grammaticalization. Keywords Grammaticalization  Compounding  Derivation  Affixoids  Adjectives  French/Dutch 1 Introduction In this study we will analyze the grammaticalization of adjectives into prefixes in Dutch and French, starting from the hypothesis that there is a continuum between syntax and morphology, and more specifically, between compounding and deriva- tion (cf. Bybee 1985; Bauer 2005; Booij 2005a, b). Kristel Van Goethem is a Postdoctoral fellow of the Research Foundation-Flanders (FWO) K. Van Goethem (&) Faculteit Letteren, Subfaculteit Taalkunde, K.U. Leuven, Blijde-Inkomstraat 21 – bus 3308, 3000 Leuven, Belgium E-mail: Kristel.VanGoethem@arts.kuleuven.be 123 Morphology DOI 10.1007/s11525-008-9121-6 ORIGINAL PAPER Oud-leerling versus ancien e ´le `ve: A Comparative Study of Adjectives Grammaticalizing into Prefixes in Dutch and French Kristel Van Goethem Received: 19 August 2008/Accepted: 10 November 2008 Ó Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2008