What does "morphology" mean?
A scientific study of form and structure, usually without regard to function. Especially:; The study of the internal structure of morphemes (words and their semantic building blocks).
Morphology
/mɔːˈfɒl.ə.d͡ʒi/ noun
noun ·Common ·High school level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: A scientific study of form and structure, usually without regard to function. Especially:; The study of the internal structure of morphemes (words and their semantic building blocks).
- Grammar: morphology is listed as noun.
- Nearest alternatives: word structure, accidence, adjective formation, affix.
- Useful contrasts: function, phonology, plant physiology.
- Usage evidence: These two have completely different patterning but no difference is seen in their internal morphology so it seems that they are considered the same.
How to use "morphology"
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Meaning check
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- Is there enough surrounding context to prevent ambiguity?
Source and review context
This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "morphology" in a final draft.
If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.
Before you rely on this definition
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Definition decision workflow
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Definitions
Noun
- 1 A scientific study of form and structure, usually without regard to function. Especially:; The study of the internal structure of morphemes (words and their semantic building blocks). countable, uncountable
"There are many ways to show that word structure is different from phrase and sentence structure. We will mention two here. First, free constituent order in syntax is common cross-linguistically; many languages lack fixed order of the kind that one finds in English. In morphology, on the other hand, order is always fixed. There is no such thing as free morpheme order. Even languages with wildly free word order, such as the Pama-Nyungan (Australian) language Warlpiri (Simpson 1991), have a fixed order of morphemes within the word. Second, syntactic and morphological patterns can differ within the same language. For example, note the difference in English in the positioning of head and complement between syntax and morphology."
- 2 the branch of biology that deals with the structure of animals and plants wordnet
- 3 A scientific study of form and structure, usually without regard to function. Especially:; The study of the form and structure of animals and plants. countable, uncountable
- 4 the branch of geology that studies the characteristics and configuration and evolution of rocks and land forms wordnet
- 5 A scientific study of form and structure, usually without regard to function. Especially:; The study of the structure of rocks and landforms. countable, uncountable
Show 5 more definitions
- 6 the admissible arrangement of sounds in words wordnet
- 7 A scientific study of form and structure, usually without regard to function. Especially:; Mathematical morphology. countable, uncountable
- 8 studies of the rules for forming admissible words wordnet
- 9 The form and structure of something. countable
- 10 A description of the form and structure of something. countable
Synonyms
All synonymsExample
"These two have completely different patterning but no difference is seen in their internal morphology so it seems that they are considered the same."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "morphology"?
Common synonyms include: word structure, accidence, adjective formation, affix, affixation, agaricus.
How do you use "morphology" in a sentence?
These two have completely different patterning but no difference is seen in their internal morphology so it seems that they are considered the same.
How do you pronounce "morphology"?
Pronounced /mɔːˈfɒl.ə.d͡ʒi/.
Etymology
Borrowed from German Morphologie. By surface analysis, morpho- + -logy.