unbound morpheme

[/ʌnˈbaʊnd ˈmɔːrfiːm/]

nounpl: unbound morphemes

morfema livre

1. A morpheme that can stand alone as an independent word and has meaning by itself, without needing to be attached to another morpheme

In the word 'unhappy', both 'un' is a bound morpheme and 'happy' is an unbound morpheme because 'happy' can exist independently as a complete word

Na palavra 'infeliz', 'in' é um morfema preso e 'feliz' é um morfema livre porque 'feliz' pode existir independentemente como uma palavra completa

2. A free morpheme; a morpheme that functions as a standalone lexical unit

Words like 'cat', 'run', and 'blue' are unbound morphemes because they are complete words on their own

Palavras como 'gato', 'correr' e 'azul' são morfemas livres porque são palavras completas por si só

Synonyms

Antonyms

Regional Variations

General Brazilian

morfema livre

Standard term used in Brazilian linguistic education

Portugal

morfema livre

Standard term used in European Portuguese linguistics

stand-alone word

independent linguistic unit

morpheme that stands alone

Look up more words on Fala2Me

The free English-Portuguese dictionary with real Brazilian accents, NYC slang, conjugator and more