California Teacher Credentialing Examination (CSET) Practice Test 2026 - Free CSET Practice Questions and Study Guide

A morpheme is defined as the smallest grammatical unit in a language that carries meaning. It is a vital component of linguistics where each morpheme contributes to the overall meaning of a word. For instance, the word "unhappiness" consists of three morphemes: "un-" (a prefix indicating negation), "happy" (the base or root morpheme with the core meaning), and "-ness" (a suffix that turns an adjective into a noun, indicating a state or condition).

Understanding that a morpheme cannot be divided further into smaller units while still retaining meaning distinguishes it from syllables, sounds, or phonemes, which serve different roles in language structure and phonetics. This clear definition reinforces the significance of morphemes in word formation and meaning in any language.