Morphemes in “molecular”
“molecular” has 2 morphemes: molecule + -ar.
Spelling changes when the parts join: the boxes show the letters as written; the morphemes themselves are molecule + -ar.
Each morpheme explained
| Morpheme | Type | Free / bound | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| molecule (written molecul) | free root | free | (physics and chemistry) the simplest structural unit of an element or compound |
| -ar | derivational suffix | bound | relating to, like |
How the word is built
molecule → molecular
Each step adds one affix to the word before it; the root “molecule” is where the chain starts.
Morphemes are not syllables
Morphemes are units of meaning; syllables are units of sound. The boundaries often fall in different places, which is why “molecular” splits one way for a morphology exercise and another for a syllable count.
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.