Morpheme: meaning, definitions and examples
๐ค
morpheme
[ หmษหf.iหm ]
linguistic unit
A morpheme is the smallest grammatical unit in a language that carries meaning. It cannot be divided into smaller meaningful parts without losing its sense. Morphemes can be roots, prefixes, and suffixes. They are the building blocks of words, and understanding them is crucial in linguistic analysis.
Synonyms
grammatical unit, linguistic unit, morphological unit
Examples of usage
- The word 'unhappiness' consists of three morphemes: 'un-', 'happy', and '-ness'.
- In the word 'unhappiest', 'un-', 'happy', '-est' are all morphemes.
linguistics
In linguistics, a morpheme is the smallest unit of language that carries meaning. It is the basic unit of morphology, the study of word structure. Morphemes can be free or bound, and they play a crucial role in understanding how words are formed and the relationships between them.
Synonyms
Examples of usage
- The word 'cats' consists of two morphemes: 'cat' (the root) and '-s' (the plural marker).
- The morpheme 'un-' in 'unhappy' indicates negation.
Translations
Translations of the word "morpheme" in other languages:
๐ต๐น morfema
๐ฎ๐ณ เคฐเฅเคชเคเฅเคฐเคนเคฃ
๐ฉ๐ช Morphem
๐ฎ๐ฉ morfem
๐บ๐ฆ ะผะพััะตะผะฐ
๐ต๐ฑ morfem
๐ฏ๐ต ๅฝขๆ ็ด (ใใใใใ)
๐ซ๐ท morphรจme
๐ช๐ธ morfema
๐น๐ท morfem
๐ฐ๐ท ํํ์ (ํํ์)
๐ธ๐ฆ ู ูุฑููู
๐จ๐ฟ morfรฉm
๐ธ๐ฐ morfรฉma
๐จ๐ณ ่ฏ็ด (cรญ sรน)
๐ธ๐ฎ morfem
๐ฎ๐ธ morfem
๐ฐ๐ฟ ะผะพััะตะผะฐ
๐ฌ๐ช แแแ แคแแแ
๐ฆ๐ฟ morfem
๐ฒ๐ฝ morfema
Word origin
The term 'morpheme' was coined by linguist Leonard Bloomfield in the 1930s. It is derived from the Greek word 'morphe', meaning form. The concept of morphemes has been central to linguistic theory and has greatly contributed to our understanding of how language functions and is structured.
See also: geomorphology, metamorphosis, morph, morphing, morphology, polymorphic.