single morpheme word; individual word
Tone colorsmāmámǎmàma
Meanings
2 senses · 5 examplesnoun
monomorphemic word; single-morpheme word
formalA linguistic term referring to a word consisting of a single morpheme, which cannot be broken down into smaller meaningful units in modern Chinese (e.g., 人，山，葡萄). Contrasts with compound words (合成词).
“
rén人
”
hé和
“
mǎ马
”
dōu都
shì是
Hàn汉
yǔ语
de的
dān单
cí词
。
Both 'rén' (person) and 'mǎ' (horse) are monomorphemic words in Chinese.
Zài在
yǔ语
yán言
xué学
zhōng中
，
dān单
yīn音
jié节
cí词
tōng通
cháng常
shì是
dān单
cí词
。
In linguistics, monosyllabic words are usually single-morpheme words.
noun
individual word (as a unit of vocabulary)
neutralThe common, everyday meaning. Refers to a single, distinct vocabulary item, as opposed to a phrase or compound. Often used in language learning contexts.
Qǐng请
bǎ把
jīn今
tiān天
xué学
de的
dān单
cí词
chāo抄
xiě写
wǔ五
biàn遍
。
Please copy today's vocabulary words five times each.
Zhè这
ge个
dān单
cí词
shì是
shén什
me么
yì意
si思
？
What does this word mean?
Show 1 more exampleShow fewer examples
Wǒ我
měi每
tiān天
bèi背
èr二
shí十
ge个
Yīng英
yǔ语
dān单
cí词
。
I memorize twenty English words every day.