Morphemes in “accidentally”
“accidentally” has 3 morphemes: accident + -al + -ly.
Spelling changes when the parts join: the boxes show the letters as written; the morphemes themselves are accident + -al + -ly.
Each morpheme explained
| Morpheme | Type | Free / bound | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| accident | free root | free | an unfortunate mishap; especially one causing damage or injury |
| -al | derivational suffix | bound | relating to, of the kind of |
| -ly | derivational suffix | bound | in the manner of; every (as in daily) |
How the word is built
accident → accidental → accidentally
Each step adds one affix to the word before it; the root “accident” is where the chain starts.
Morphemes are not syllables
Morphemes are units of meaning; syllables are units of sound. The boundaries often fall in different places, which is why “accidentally” splits one way for a morphology exercise and another for a syllable count.
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Prefixes, roots and suffixes with glosses, free and in your browser.
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Segmentation derived from MorphyNet (Batsuren, Bella & Giunchiglia, 2021; CC BY-SA 3.0, built from Wiktionary), with hand-written affix glosses and root meanings from WordNet. Reviewed for classroom use; tell us if you spot an error.