morpheme

[mawr-feem]

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noun Linguistics.

any of the minimal grammatical units of a language, each constituting a word or meaningful part of a word, that cannot be divided into smaller independent grammatical parts, as the, write, or the -ed of waited.Compare allomorph(def 2), morph(def 1).

Origin of morpheme

1895–1900; < French morphème; see morph-, -eme

Related formsmor·phe·mic, adjectivemor·phe·mi·cal·ly, adverb

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for morpheme

sound, term, concept, name, phrase, expression, designation, locution, idiom, usage, utterance, morpheme, vocable, lexeme, fundamentals, elements, syllabary, symbols, ideograph, rune

British Dictionary definitions for morpheme

morpheme

noun

linguistics a speech element having a meaning or grammatical function that cannot be subdivided into further such elements

Derived Formsmorphemic, adjectivemorphemically, adverb

Word Origin for morpheme

C20: from French, from Greek morphē form, coined on the model of phoneme; see -eme

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for morpheme

"part of a word which contains the affixes," 1896, from German morpheme, coined 1895 by Polish-born linguist Jan Baudouin de Courtenay (1845–1929), from Greek morphe "form, shape" (see Morpheus), on analogy of phonème.