morpheme

(noun)

The smallest linguistic unit within a word that can carry a meaning, such as "un-", "break", and "-able" in the word "unbreakable."

Related Terms

Examples of morpheme in the following topics:

  • The Structure of Language

    • Thus, a morpheme is a series of phonemes that has a special meaning.
    • If a morpheme is altered in any way, the entire meaning of the word can be changed.
    • Some morphemes are individual words (such as "eat" or "water").
    • These are known as free morphemes because they can exist on their own.
    • Because these morphemes must be attached to another word to have meaning, they are called bound morphemes.