Simple Definition:
Morphology is the study of the structure and forms of words in a language. It involves analyzing how words are built from smaller meaningful units called morphemes. Morphemes can be prefixes (such as “un-” in “unhappy”), suffixes (like “-s” in “cats”), or whole words themselves (like “cat” or “happy”).
For example:
- The word “unhappiness” has the prefix “un-“, the root word “happy,” and the suffix “-ness.”
- The word “cats” consists of the root word “cat” and the suffix “-s” indicating plurals.
Very Simple Definition:
Morphology is the study of how words are formed. It looks at how smaller parts combine to make bigger words.
For example:
- “Unhappy” means not happy.
- “Cats” means more than one cat.