morph

• enPR: mô(r)f, IPA^(key): /mɔː(ɹ)f/
• Rhymes: -ɔː(r)f

Back-formation from morpheme, from Ancient Greek μορφή (morphḗ, “form, shape”). Compare German Morph, from Morphem. Attested since the 1940s.

morph (plural morphs)

1. (grammar, linguistics) A physical form representing some morpheme in language. It is a recurrent distinctive sound or sequence of sounds.
2. (linguistics) An allomorph: one of a set of realizations that a morpheme can have in different contexts.

• “morph, n.3.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, December 2002.

Back-formation from morphism. Attested since the 1950s. See also morphology.

morph (plural morphs)

1. (biology) Local variety of a species, distinguishable from other populations of the species by morphology or behaviour.
   • 2010, T.J. Pandian, Sexuality in Fishes, page 51:

     Briefly, the yellow morphic males can change their status from paired to satellite and from satellite to the paired one. However, they cannot cross into the status of the red morph.

• “morph, n.4.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, December 2002.

Clipping of metamorphose.

morph (third-person singular simple present morphs, present participle morphing, simple past and past participle morphed)

1. (colloquial, transitive, intransitive) To change shape, from one form to another, through computer animation.
2. (of fantastic beings in science fiction or fantasy) To shapeshift.
   • 1993, Peter David, The Siege:

     Meta leapt forward. In midair his lower half morphed, and suddenly he was one-half humanoid, one-half coiled spring.

3. To undergo dramatic change in a seamless and barely noticeable fashion.
   • 2013 June 18, Simon Romero, "Protests Widen as Brazilians Chide Leaders," New York Times (retrieved 21 June 2013):

     By the time politicians in several cities backed down on Tuesday and announced that they would cut or consider reducing fares, the demonstrations had already morphed into a more sweeping social protest, with marchers waving banners carrying slogans like “The people have awakened.”

morph (plural morphs)

1. A computer-generated gradual change from one image to another.

• morphic
• morpho-
• morphological