- Definition : A free morpheme is a morpheme (the smallest part of a word which carries meaning) which can exist in isolation, functioning as a single word.
- Examples : The words friend or step.
- Free morphemes can combine with other free morphemes to form compound words (footstep, handcuffs, wheelchair, newspaper) and can also combine with bound morphemes (morphemes which cannot exist independently of a free morpheme)- eg unfriendly to change meaning and/or word class.
Further reading
McCarthy, M. 1990, Vocabulary, OUP
