Morphemes

Morphemes

By Jake Dishman

Multiple Choice

Which word has the most morphemes?

• undo

• retracted

• cats

• Constantinople

Example: "interrupt" = inter + rupt

inter = between

rupt = break

How do these morphemes work togehter?

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They work together

"cat" means the animal

"s" means more than one

"cats" has two morphemes​

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They have meaning

What is a morpheme?

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​A morpheme is the smallest unit of sounds that has a unique meaning in a word.

Morphemes can be...

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• Prefixes, such as pre-, un-, mis-, or dis-.

• Suffixes, such as -ing, -ly, -y, or -ness.

• Base words, such as cat, cheese, table, or tuba.

• Root words*, such as rupt, tract, lum, or duct.

  * root words are groups of letters that have a meaning, but isn't necessarily a whole word on their own.

Multiple Choice

Which word has the most morphemes?

• breakfast

• waffles

• pancakes

• Constantinople

Multiple Choice

How many morphemes are in the word outstandingly?

• 1

• 2

• 3

• 4

Multiple Choice

Which word has a root word within it?

• underdressed

• illuminate

• sluggish

• root canal

Remember: a morpheme adds to a word's meaning!

Just because letters are next to each other,

doesn't mean they're spelling out a morpheme.​

Example: ​

The word "teachers" has the letters t, e, a next to each other. HOWEVER, "tea" is not a morpheme inside the word "teacher." Why?

Because the meaning of "tea" doesn't add to what "teacher" means.​

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Multiple Choice

What is NOT a morpheme inside of the word "romantically"

• Roman

• man

• ic

• ally

Why do we care?

If you want to learn words quicker, you think about where they come from!

Etymology is the study of where words come from. It's like a history lesson...except about one word's journey to our language!

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Consider the word,

"insignia"

Don't blurt out, but think about what each morpheme is inside the word.

Multiple Choice

Which picture would the word "insignia" describe?

Open Ended

Open up a spare tab, and go to 'etymonline.'

(etymology is the study of the history of words)

Pick one SCHOOL APPROPRIATE word that's NOT A PROPER NOUN,

and discover where it comes from. Share part of your discovery below.

Now it's time...

Get ready to talk about roots.

Loads of words become easier to learn quickly if you understand where they come from. The greek and latin language is full of roots that were used to create English words. Get ready to learn more about how language ticks!

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