morphological

What it means

1. not comparableOf, or pertaining to, morphology.

   There is some morphological syntax to adverbs in English: Many can be formed from adjectives, plus the suffix -ly.

   2025, Edward A. F. Gibson, “Dependency Grammar” (chapter 3), in Syntax: A Cognitive Approach, MIT Press, →DOI, →ISBN, page 67

   2 more examples

   In much the same way, morphological competence is reflected in the native speaker's intuitions about morphological well-formedness and structure. For example, native speakers of English know that van and can have the respective plural forms vans and cans, but that the plural of man is men and not *mans. [...]

   1988, Andrew Radford, Transformational Grammar, Cambridge: University Press, →ISBN, page 5

   Before I simply create a root meaning X, is there any way I can use Ithkuil morphological categories or the 150 or so suffix categories to derive this word from a more general or primary word?

   2006, “Ithkuil Q & A”, in The Conlanger's Library, archived from the original on 14 Jan 2025, page 3

In a sentence

In much the same way, morphological competence is reflected in the native speaker's intuitions about morphological well-formedness and structure. For example, native speakers of English know that van and can have the respective plural forms vans and cans, but that the plural of man is men and not *mans. [...]

1988, Andrew Radford, Transformational Grammar, Cambridge: University Press, →ISBN, page 5

Where it comes from

1. Englishmorphology
2. Proto-Indo-European*h₂el-
3. Proto-Indo-European*h₂élisder.?
4. Englishmorphological

From morphology + -ical.