Morphemes in “illegality”
“illegality” has 3 morphemes: in- + legal + -ity.
il
prefix
+
legal
root
+
ity
suffix
Spelling changes when the parts join: the boxes show the letters as written; the morphemes themselves are in- + legal + -ity.
Each morpheme explained
| Morpheme | Type | Free / bound | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| in- (written il) | derivational prefix | bound | not (form of in- before l) |
| legal | free root | free | established by or founded upon law or official or accepted rules |
| -ity | derivational suffix | bound | quality or condition of |
How the word is built
legal → illegal → illegality
Each step adds one affix to the word before it; the root “legal” 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 "illegality"?
"illegality" has three morphemes: in- + legal + -ity.
How do you break "illegality" into morphemes?
in- + legal + -ity. The root is "legal"; in- is a derivational prefix, -ity is a derivational suffix.
What is the root word of "illegality"?
The root of "illegality" is "legal", built up as legal → illegal → illegality.
Is this morphology tool free?
Yes. The Fixie morphological analyzer is free with no signup and runs in your browser.