Morphemes in “downhill”
“downhill” has 2 morphemes: down- + hill.
down
prefix
+
hill
root
Spelling changes when the parts join: the boxes show the letters as written; the morphemes themselves are down- + hill.
Each morpheme explained
| Morpheme | Type | Free / bound | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| down- | derivational prefix | bound | downward, lower (particle used as a prefix) |
| hill | free root | free | a local and well-defined elevation of the land |
How the word is built
hill → downhill
Each step adds one affix to the word before it; the root “hill” is where the chain starts.
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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 "downhill"?
"downhill" has two morphemes: down- + hill.
How do you break "downhill" into morphemes?
down- + hill. The root is "hill"; down- is a derivational prefix.
What is the root word of "downhill"?
The root of "downhill" is "hill", built up as hill → downhill.
Is this morphology tool free?
Yes. The Fixie morphological analyzer is free with no signup and runs in your browser.