Morphemes in “player”

“player” has 2 morphemes: play + -er.

play root
+
er suffix

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

Each morpheme explained

MorphemeTypeFree / boundMeaning
play free root free a dramatic work intended for performance by actors on a stage
-er derivational suffix bound a person or thing that does (agent); also 'more' when comparative

How the word is built

play player

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

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