Phrase guide

free morpheme

noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

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No pronunciation record was provided for this word.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A morpheme that can carry meaning on its own, and does not require a prefix, suffix, or infix to give it meaning.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: human-sciences, linguistic-morphology, linguistics, morphology, sciences

Examples

  • Book is a free morpheme, but the -s on books is not, because -s carries no meaning until joined to a free morpheme.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

a morpheme that can occur alone

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: free form

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: morpheme

History

Etymology

No etymology was provided for this word.

Across languages

Translations

7 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Chinese Mandarin: 自由語素 /自由语素 (zìyóuyǔsù) — type of morpheme
  • Finnish: vapaa morfeemi — type of morpheme
  • French: morphème libre — type of morpheme
  • German: freies Morphem — type of morpheme
  • Japanese: 自由形態素 (jiyū keitaiso) — type of morpheme
  • Polish: morfem leksykalny — type of morpheme
  • Vietnamese: hình vị tự do — type of morpheme