A morpheme is the smallest unit of meaning in a language. The words 'the', 'in', and 'girl' consist of one morpheme. The word 'girls' consists of two morphemes: 'girl' and's'.
morpheme in British English
(ˈmɔːfiːm)
noun
linguistics
a speech element having a meaning or grammatical function that cannot be subdivided into further such elements
Derived forms
morphemic (morˈphemic)
adjective
morphemically (morˈphemically)
adverb
Word origin
C20: from French, from Greek morphē form, coined on the model of phoneme; see -eme
morpheme in American English
(ˈmɔrˌfim)
noun
the smallest meaningful unit or form in a language: it may be an affix (Ex.: un- in undo or -er in doer) or a base (Ex.: do in undo)
Derived forms
morphemic (morˈphemic)
adjective
morphemically (morˈphemically)
adverb
Word origin
Fr morphème < Gr morphē, form + Fr -ème, as in phonème, phoneme