Morphemes in “impurity”

“impurity” has 3 morphemes: in- + pure + -ity.

im prefix
+
pur root
+
ity suffix

Spelling changes when the parts join: the boxes show the letters as written; the morphemes themselves are in- + pure + -ity.

Each morpheme explained

MorphemeTypeFree / boundMeaning
in- (written im) derivational prefix bound not (form of in- before b, m, p)
pure (written pur) free root free free of extraneous elements of any kind
-ity derivational suffix bound quality or condition of

How the word is built

pure impure impurity

Each step adds one affix to the word before it; the root “pure” is where the chain starts.

Break any word into morphemes

Prefixes, roots and suffixes with glosses, free and in your browser.

Open the morphological analyzer →

Related words

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 "impurity"?
"impurity" has three morphemes: in- + pure + -ity.
How do you break "impurity" into morphemes?
in- + pure + -ity. The root is "pure"; in- is a derivational prefix, -ity is a derivational suffix.
What is the root word of "impurity"?
The root of "impurity" is "pure", built up as pure → impure → impurity.
Is this morphology tool free?
Yes. The Fixie morphological analyzer is free with no signup and runs in your browser.