allomorph

American  

[al-uh-mawrf] / ˈæl əˌmɔrf /

noun

1. any of two or more different forms of the same chemical compound.

2. Linguistics.  one of the alternate contextually determined phonological shapes of a morpheme, as en in oxen, which is an allomorph of the English plural morpheme.

3. Mineralogy.  paramorph.

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allomorph British  

/ ˈæləˌmɔːf /

noun

1. linguistics any of the phonological representations of a single morpheme. For example, the final (s) and (z) sounds of bets and beds are allomorphs of the English noun-plural morpheme

2. any of two or more different crystalline forms of a chemical compound, such as a mineral

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Other Word Forms

• allomorphic adjective

Etymology

Origin of allomorph

First recorded in 1865–70; allo- + -morph

Example Sentences

The property which constitutes an allomorph; the change involved in becoming an allomorph.

From Project Gutenberg