What is a free morpheme?

Definition

A free morpheme is a grammatical unit that can occur by itself. However, other morphemes such as affixes can be attached to it.

Also known as:

unbound morpheme

Example (English)
	The morpheme dog

Concept module: free morpheme
In overview module: Glossary (Linguistics): F
In modular book: Glossary of linguistic terms, by Eugene E. Loos (general editor), Susan Anderson (editor), Dwight H., Day, Jr. (editor), Paul C. Jordan (editor), and J. Douglas Wingate (editor)
In bookshelf: Linguistics

This page is an extract from the LinguaLinks Library, Version 5.0 published on CD-ROM by SIL International, 2003. [Ordering information.]

Page content last modified: 5 January 2004