free morpheme
- noun
- /friː ˈmɔːrfiːm/
- Specialized
:
morfema libre
- A free morpheme can stand alone as a complete word, like 'tree' or 'house'.
Examples
-
Well, this morpheme is a free morpheme because it doesn't need to combine with anything.
-
Words that consist of only a free morpheme are monomorphemic, and words that contain both free and bound morphemes are multimorphemic.
Academic text (2014) -
We use the term base word for free morphemes, one-morpheme words that can stand on their own.
Academic text (2014) -
So cat is a free morpheme, is a bound morpheme.
-
In linguistics, a free morpheme is a unit of meaning that does not require any additional components.
-
Examples of free morphemes include words like 'run', 'book', and 'cat'.
Synonyms
1
6.5
A small part of language that can be a whole word
Antonyms
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase simply combines 'free' (not attached / able to stand alone) with 'morpheme' (the smallest unit of meaning), so the meaning 'a morpheme that can stand alone' is directly derivable from the constituents. Although 'morpheme' is a technical term, a learner who knows that word will find the adjective 'free' transparently indicates the opposed category to 'bound morpheme'.
Etymology
Free morpheme comes from a simple image: think of small meaning blocks where a free block can stand on its own, while a morpheme that is not free must stick to another block. So a free morpheme is a small piece of meaning that can 'stand alone' as a whole word, which is why words like 'book' or 'run' are free morphemes.