morphological

morphological — adjective

1. concerning the physical shape, size, and arrangement of body parts or tissues in

1.形容詞C1
釋義

concerning the physical shape, size, and arrangement of body parts or tissues in living things — including features visible to the naked eye and those seen only under a microscope.

例句

Valentina's research paper examined morphological differences between two related frog species in the Amazon rainforest.

morphological differences between [species]

The fossil's morphological features suggest it belonged to an early ancestor of modern horses.

同義詞
  • structural

    broader meaning — can refer to non-living things such as buildings or systems

  • anatomical

    more specific to the internal body parts of humans and animals

  • organic

    relates to living things in general, less focused on precise shape and form

反義詞
  • physiological

    concerns the function and processes of living things rather than their form

文法句型

morphological + noun

morphological + analysis/features/differences

用法筆記

Typically appears before the noun it modifies — for example, morphological features, morphological characteristics, or morphological analysis. Distinguish from physiological, which concerns function and process rather than form and structure.

常見錯誤

❌The doctor examined the morphological function of the kidney.
✅The doctor examined the morphological structure of the kidney.
💡Morphology focuses on form and structure, not function.
❌Morphological and physiological descriptions are the same thing.
✅Morphological features describe shape and structure, while physiological features describe how something works.
💡These two fields are complementary but distinct.

2. concerned with how words are built from smaller meaningful pieces, such as prefi

2.形容詞C1
釋義

concerned with how words are built from smaller meaningful pieces, such as prefixes, suffixes, and root forms, and how those pieces change a word's meaning or grammatical role.

例句

Nikhil's linguistics thesis focused on the morphological structure of compound words in Turkish and Azerbaijani.

morphological structure of compound words

Learning the morphological rules for forming plural nouns helped Hoa understand Italian grammar more easily.

morphological rules for forming [plurals/words]

同義詞
  • inflectional

    narrower — refers specifically to changes in word form for grammar (e.g. walked, walking)

  • derivational

    narrower — refers specifically to creating new words from existing ones (e.g. happy → unhappy)

  • lexical

    broader — relates to words and vocabulary in general, not just their internal structure

反義詞
  • syntactic

    concerns the arrangement of words in phrases and sentences rather than the form of words themselves

文法句型

morphological + noun

morphological + structure/rules/patterns/analysis

用法筆記

Commonly precedes nouns such as structure, rule, pattern, and analysis. The adverb form morphologically is also frequent in linguistic writing. Distinguish from syntactic, which concerns how words combine into sentences rather than how words themselves are built.

常見錯誤

❌Learning morphological syntax helped me understand sentence structure.
✅Learning morphological rules helped me understand how words are built.
💡Morphology is about word formation; syntax is about sentence structure.
❌English has very few morphological inflections compared to synthetic languages.' (awkward)
✅English has few morphological inflections
💡for example, most nouns only add -s for the plural.' — Clarify with a concrete example.