🔹 What Is a Morpheme?
A morpheme is the smallest meaningful unit of language. It cannot be divided into smaller parts
without losing or changing its meaning.
Examples:
dogs = dog (a noun) + -s (plural marker)
unbelievable = un- (not) + believe (root) + -able (capable of)
restarted = re- (again) + start (root) + -ed (past tense)
📚 Types of Morphemes
1. Free vs. Bound Morphemes
Type Descrip on Examples
Free Morpheme Can stand alone as a word book, run, nice, house
Bound Morpheme Must be a ached to another morpheme -ed, un-, -s, -ness
2. Lexical vs. Grammatical Morphemes
Type Descrip on Examples
Lexical Morpheme Content words that carry meaning love, music, quick, phone
Gramma cal Morpheme Func on words or markers for grammar the, is, -s, on, has
3. Derivational vs. Inflectional Morphemes
A. Derivational Morphemes
Purpose: Create new words or change a word’s gramma cal category (part of speech).
Posi on: Can occur at the beginning (prefixes) or end (suffixes) of words.
Examples:
happy → unhappy (adjec ve → adjec ve)
teach → teacher (verb → noun)
create → crea ve (verb → adjec ve)
na on → na onalize (noun → verb)
B. Inflectional Morphemes
Purpose: Add gramma cal informa on (tense, number, possession, comparison).
Important: They never change the word class (e.g., noun stays a noun).
English has 8 inflec onal morphemes:
Morpheme Use Example
-s Plural nouns cats
-’s Possession Sarah’s book
-s 3rd person singular He runs
-ed Past tense walked
-ing Present par ciple ea ng
-en Past par ciple broken
-er Compara ve faster
-est Superla ve fastest
🧩 Allomorphy: Varia ons of a Morpheme
➤ What Are Allomorphs?
Allomorphs are variant forms of a morpheme that differ in sound (pronuncia on) but have the same
func on and meaning. They appear depending on the phonological or morphological environment.
Example: Plural Morpheme “-s” in English
The plural morpheme "-s" has three allomorphs based on the final sound of the noun:
Allomorph Pronuncia on Occurs A er Sounds Like... Example
/s/ voiceless /p/, /t/, /k/, /f/, /θ/ cats, clocks
/z/ voiced /b/, /d/, /g/, /v/, vowels dogs, keys
/ɪz/ or /əz/ sibilants /s/, /z/, /ʃ/, /ʒ/, /tʃ/, /dʒ/ dishes, buzzes
Other Examples of Allomorphy:
1. Past tense morpheme "-ed":
Allomorph When used Examples
/t/ A er voiceless sounds walked (/k/)
/d/ A er voiced sounds played (/l/)
/ɪd/ A er /t/ or /d/ wanted, added
2. Nega ve prefix "in-" (meaning "not"):
Allomorph Example Explana on
in- incomplete before /k/, /m/, /p/
im- impossible before /p/, /b/, /m/
il- illegal before /l/
ir- irregular before /r/
📝 Summary Table
Term Defini on Example
Morpheme Smallest unit of meaning un-, -ed, dog
Free Morpheme Can stand alone as a word book, fast
Bound
Must a ach to another morpheme -ness, re-, -s
Morpheme
Deriva onal Changes meaning or word class beauty → beau ful
Adds gramma cal informa on without changing
Inflec onal play → played, cat → cats
class
cats /s/, dogs /z/, dishes
Allomorph Phonological variants of the same morpheme
/ɪz/
Word Prefix Root Suffix(es) Meaning/Structure
knowingly – know -ing, -ly Verb → adv. (in a knowing way)
rediscover re- discover – Prefix "re" = again
-less, -
brainlessness – brain Noun → quality of lacking a brain
ness
insufferable in- suffer -able "in" = not; "able" = capable of
untainted un- taint -ed "un" = not; past participle form
disinherited dis- inherit -ed "dis" = reverse; past participle
unrepeated un- repeat -ed Not repeated
undeveloped un- develop -ed Not developed
paranormality para- normal -ity "para" = beyond; "ity" = noun suffix
Making something like McDonald's
McDonaldization – McDonald -ization
(cultural/sociological term)
unrepeated
un- repeat -ed Duplicate from above
(again)
Notes:
Some words have multiple suffixes (brainlessness = -less + -ness).
In McDonaldization, the entire proper noun McDonald acts as the root.
Prefixes like un-, re-, dis-, in-, and para- modify the root's meaning.
Suffixes like -ly, -ed, -ness, -able, -ity, -ization determine word class (adjective, noun,
etc.) and grammatical role.
Affix Identification
Word Prefix(es) Root Suffix(es)
unemployment un- employ -ment
untouchable un- touch -able
unsystematically un- system -atic, -al, -ly
present (v) – present –
misunderstand mis-, under- stand –
friendship – friend -ship
abstraction abs- tract -ion
moralize – moral -ize
alcoholic – alcohol -ic
mistreatment mis- treat -ment
unbelievable un- believe -able
inaccurate in- accurate –
enlarge en- large –
darken – dark -en
Some words like unsystematically have stacked suffixes (-atic, -al, -ly) which each
contribute to forming an adverb from a noun.
Misunderstand has two prefixes (mis- = wrong, under- = beneath/incompletely).
Abstraction has the Latinate prefix abs- (away) and the root tract (pull).
Enlarge uses the productive English prefix en- (to cause to be).
Root: The core meaning unit of the word.
Base: The form to which affixes are added. It may be the same as the root or include
derivational affixes.
Stem: The form to which inflectional affixes are added.
Derivational Affixes: Affixes that change the word’s meaning or grammatical
category.
Inflectional Affixes: Affixes that express grammatical functions (tense, number,
comparison, etc.) without changing the category.
Set 1: unbelievable – actors – renewed – faithfully
Word Root Base Stem Derivational Affix(es) Inflectional Affix(es)
unbelievable believe believable unbelievable un-, -able —
actors act actor actors -or -s (plural)
renewed new renew renewed re- -ed (past tense)
faithfully faith faithful faithfully -ful, -ly —
Set 2: mistreatment – pickpockets – window-cleaners
Derivational Inflectional
Word Root Base Stem
Affix(es) Affix(es)
mistreatment treat mistreat mistreatment mis-, -ment —
pick,
pickpockets pickpocket pickpockets compounding -s (plural)
pocket
window- window, window- window-
compounding, -er -s (plural)
cleaners clean cleaner cleaners
Note: Compounds like pickpocket and window-cleaner involve two roots, forming a
compound base. The plural -s is added to the stem (i.e., the whole compound noun).
Set 3: insanity – psychology – shortest – unhappiness
Derivational Inflectional
Word Root Base Stem
Affix(es) Affix(es)
insanity sane insane insanity in-, -ity —
psych (Greek:
psychology psychology psychology -logy —
mind)
shortest short short shortest — -est (superlative)
unhappiness happy unhappy unhappiness un-, -ness —
Set 4: unspeakable – uncivilized – McDonaldization
Derivational Inflectional
Word Root Base Stem
Affix(es) Affix(es)
unspeakable speak speakable unspeakable un-, -able —
un-, -ize, -ed
(here
uncivilized civil civilized uncivilized —
derivational, not
past tense)
McDonaldization McDonald McDonaldize McDonaldization -ize, -ation —
Note on uncivilized: Though -ed looks like a past-tense marker, here it functions
derivationally to form an adjective from a verb (civilize → civilized).
Summary Definitions:
Root: The core meaning unit.
Base: Any form to which an affix is added (may include other derivational affixes).
Stem: The base to which an inflectional affix is attached.
Derivational Affix: Changes meaning/part of speech.
Inflectional Affix: Adds grammatical function without changing category.
How many morphemes does the following sentence contain?
The boys unexpectedly walked out of the classroom
Word Morphemes Explanation
The the 1 free morpheme (definite article)
boys boy, -s 1 free (boy) + 1 inflectional (plural -s)
unexpectedly un-, expect, -ed, -ly 1 root (expect) + 3 derivational affixes
walked walk, -ed 1 root (walk) + 1 inflectional affix (past tense)
out out 1 free morpheme (preposition/adverb)
of of 1 free morpheme (preposition)
the the 1 free morpheme (repetition of earlier "the")
classroom class, room 2 free morphemes (compound noun)
Total Morphemes:
Let's count:
Free morphemes:
the (2x), boy, expect, walk, out, of, class, room → 9
Bound morphemes (affixes):
-s, un-, -ed (x2), -ly → 5
Total = 9 (free) + 5 (bound) = 14 morphemes
List of Morphemes:
Free morphemes:
the
boy
expect
walk
out
of
class
room
Bound morphemes:
-s (plural)
un- (negation)
-ed (past tense on walked)
-ed (adjectival participle on unexpectedly)
-ly (adverb)
