morphophoneme

American

[mawr-fuh-foh-neem, mawr-foh-] / ˌmɔr fəˈfoʊ nim, ˌmɔr foʊ- /

noun

Linguistics.

an abstract phonological unit representing corresponding phonemes in different allomorphs of one morpheme. In English the symbol F may be used to represent a morphophoneme occurring in two related allomorphs, as f in leaf, but v in the plural leaves.
a phonological entity comprising a bundle of distinctive features used in the representation of a morpheme.
a symbol for a phonological alternation.

morphophoneme British

/ ˌmɔːfəʊˈfəʊniːm /

noun

linguistics the set of phonemes or sequences of phonemes that constitute the various allomorphs of a morpheme

"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

Etymology

Origin of morphophoneme

1930–35; morpho- (as combining form for morpheme ) + phoneme

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023