Morphemes in “foremost”

“foremost” has 2 morphemes: fore + -most.

fore root
+
most suffix

Spelling changes when the parts join: the boxes show the letters as written; the morphemes themselves are fore + -most.

Each morpheme explained

MorphemeTypeFree / boundMeaning
fore free root free front part of a vessel or aircraft
-most derivational suffix bound furthest, most (topmost)

How the word is built

fore foremost

Each step adds one affix to the word before it; the root “fore” 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 "foremost"?
"foremost" has two morphemes: fore + -most.
How do you break "foremost" into morphemes?
fore + -most. The root is "fore"; -most is a derivational suffix.
What is the root word of "foremost"?
The root of "foremost" is "fore", built up as fore → foremost.
Is this morphology tool free?
Yes. The Fixie morphological analyzer is free with no signup and runs in your browser.