Parsing Practice

To parse a word means to analyze it into component morphemes. Recall that morphemes are the smallest units in a language that link a form with a meaning or function.

The following example words are for parsing practice. For each morpheme in a word, specify the form of the morpheme (the major allomorphs separated by slashes), and below it write the morpheme's meaning or function. (There may be some parts of the word that are "linking forms" without any meaning.) To complete the parse, we state the actual meaning of the whole word in Modern English. Note that this meaning may be somewhat indirectly related to the component morphemes.

Examples:

egregious
e/ex  +  greg           +   i         +     ous 
out    gather, group      (linker)          ADJ
'unpleasantly standing out; blatantly bad'  

azoic
a/an   +        zo      +       ic
not           animal            ADJ
'without (animal) life; preceding the appearance of life on earth'


apteryx              hippopotamus        megalith

trichotomy           polysemy            explicate

misogyny             aphelion            geminate

cryptogenic          bilabial            eliminate

perihelion           declivity           seminal

inculpate            polygamy            cacophony

anhydrous            biennial            apnea           

redolent             anthropomorphic     salient

petroglyph           endoscopy           catholic

aphasia              cathedral           dysphemism

expire               analysis            myriad