Morphemes in “childhood”
“childhood” has 2 morphemes: child + -hood.
child
root
+
hood
suffix
Spelling changes when the parts join: the boxes show the letters as written; the morphemes themselves are child + -hood.
Each morpheme explained
| Morpheme | Type | Free / bound | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| child | free root | free | a young person of either sex |
| -hood | derivational suffix | bound | state, condition or group of |
How the word is built
child → childhood
Each step adds one affix to the word before it; the root “child” is where the chain starts.
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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.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many morphemes are in "childhood"?
"childhood" has two morphemes: child + -hood.
How do you break "childhood" into morphemes?
child + -hood. The root is "child"; -hood is a derivational suffix.
What is the root word of "childhood"?
The root of "childhood" is "child", built up as child → childhood.
Is this morphology tool free?
Yes. The Fixie morphological analyzer is free with no signup and runs in your browser.