morpheme

See also: Morpheme and morphème

English
WOTD – 17 May 2012

Etymology

From French morphème. Ultimately from Ancient Greek μορφή (morphḗ, “shape, form”).

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /ˈmɔː(ɹ)fiːm/

Noun

morpheme (plural morphemes)

  1. (linguistic morphology) The smallest linguistic unit within a word that can carry a meaning, such as "un-", "break", and "-able" in the word "unbreakable".
    The word pigs consists of two morphemes: pig (a particular animal) and s (indication of the plural).
    The word werewolves' consists of four morphemes: "were" (~ man), "wolf" (a particular animal), "es" (plural), and "'" (indicating possessive).

Synonyms

Hyponyms

Holonyms

Derived terms
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Translations

See also
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