Morphological

How to spell morphological

13 letters · 5 syllables

How to pronounce morphological

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does morphological mean?

1. adjectiveRelating to the form and structure of something, especially the structure of words or the physical shape of organisms.

Morphological in a sentence

• The linguist compared the morphological patterns of two related languages.

• The biologist recorded the morphological differences between the two beetle species.

Where does morphological come from?

Language of origin: Greek

This word is built from two Greek pieces: morphe, meaning 'form' or 'shape', and logos, meaning 'word', 'reason', or 'study'. Combined, the noun 'morphology' was coined in the early nineteenth century to name the study of form and structure, first in biology for the shapes of organisms and later in linguistics for the structure of words. The adjective 'morphological' simply adds the familiar Latin-derived ending -ical, which English routinely attaches to Greek-rooted nouns to make them describe a quality. The same morphe root surfaces in everyday relatives like 'metamorphosis' (a change of form) and 'amorphous' (without form), which can help anchor the spelling. The trap is the 'ph' spelling for the /f/ sound, a hallmark of Greek borrowings, plus the unstressed vowels that blur in speech.

How the word is built

• morph- (from Greek morphe: form, shape)
• -o- (connecting vowel)
• log- (from logos: word, study)
• -ical (adjective suffix)