morphology
noun
mor·phol·o·gy mȯr-ˈfä-lə-jē 
1
a
: a branch of biology that deals with the form and structure of animals and plants
b
: the form and structure of an organism or any of its parts
amphibian morphology
external and internal eye morphology
2
a
: a study and description of word formation (such as inflection, derivation, and compounding) in language
b
: the system of word-forming elements and processes in a language
According to English morphology, the third person singular present tense of a verb is formed by adding -s.
3
a
: a study of structure or form
b
: structure, form
the unique morphology of the city
H. J. Nelson
H. J. Nelson4
: the external structure of rocks in relation to the development of erosional forms or topographic features
morphological
ˌmȯr-fə-ˈlä-ji-kəl
adjective or less commonly morphologic
ˌmȯr-fə-ˈlä-jik
morphologically
ˌmȯr-fə-ˈlä-ji-k(ə-)lē
adverb morphologist
mȯr-ˈfä-lə-jist
noun 
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What is morphology?
Within the field of biology, morphology is the study of the shapes and arrangement of parts of organisms, in order to determine their function, their development, and how they may have been shaped by evolution. Morphology is particularly important in classifying species, since it can often reveal how closely one species is related to another. Morphology is studied within other sciences as well, including astronomy and geology. And in language, morphology considers where words come from and why they look the way they do.
Example Sentences
Recent Examples on the Web The second is gathering enough information to map its morphology. Wired, 6 July 2022 His group led the investigation into developing minimum-sound standards for E.V.s and hybrids, and establishing parameters to govern the decibel level, pitch, and morphology of the warning signals. John Seabrook, The New Yorker, 1 Aug. 2022 Existing rip-current forecasts also tend to cover large areas and often don’t factor in a beach’s underlying morphology, which limits their value for any specific beach, Houser says. Chloe Williams, The Atlantic, 20 June 2022 While many shark species have the same tooth morphology throughout, the Port Jackson has teeth that looks different in the front and back. Melissa Cristina Márquez, Forbes, 1 May 2022 No doubt Neandertals had a distinctive morphology, but many of their traits are also found much later in the modern people who followed them. David W. Frayer, Scientific American, 1 Feb. 2022 Co-author John Capano of Brown University performed the x-ray experiments, using a technique known as XROMM (X-ray reconstruction of moving morphology) to create X-ray movies of the snakes. Jennifer Ouellette, Ars Technica, 24 Mar. 2022 Rather there was probably a lot of variation in Neandertal morphology, and in later times some interbreeding occurred between them and our modern European ancestors. David W. Frayer, Scientific American, 1 Feb. 2022 Researchers have identified three main smile subtypes, each with its own morphology and social functions: reward smiles, affiliation smiles and dominance smiles. New York Times, 8 Feb. 2022 See More
Wired, 6 July 2022 His group led the investigation into developing minimum-sound standards for E.V.s and hybrids, and establishing parameters to govern the decibel level, pitch, and morphology of the warning signals. John Seabrook, The New Yorker, 1 Aug. 2022 Existing rip-current forecasts also tend to cover large areas and often don’t factor in a beach’s underlying morphology, which limits their value for any specific beach, Houser says. Chloe Williams, The Atlantic, 20 June 2022 While many shark species have the same tooth morphology throughout, the Port Jackson has teeth that looks different in the front and back. Melissa Cristina Márquez, Forbes, 1 May 2022 No doubt Neandertals had a distinctive morphology, but many of their traits are also found much later in the modern people who followed them. David W. Frayer, Scientific American, 1 Feb. 2022 Co-author John Capano of Brown University performed the x-ray experiments, using a technique known as XROMM (X-ray reconstruction of moving morphology) to create X-ray movies of the snakes. Jennifer Ouellette, Ars Technica, 24 Mar. 2022 Rather there was probably a lot of variation in Neandertal morphology, and in later times some interbreeding occurred between them and our modern European ancestors. David W. Frayer, Scientific American, 1 Feb. 2022 Researchers have identified three main smile subtypes, each with its own morphology and social functions: reward smiles, affiliation smiles and dominance smiles. New York Times, 8 Feb. 2022 See More Word History
Etymology
German Morphologie, from morph- + -logie -logy
First Known Use
1828, in the meaning defined at sense 1a
Medical Definition
morphology
noun
mor·phol·o·gy mȯr-ˈfäl-ə-jē
plural morphologies
1
: a branch of biology that deals with the form and structure of animals and plants especially with respect to the forms, relations, metamorphoses, and phylogenetic development of organs apart from their functions see anatomy sense 1 compare physiology sense 1
2
: the form and structure of an organism or any of its parts