Which term is used for words formed by attaching bound morphemes to a base, such as deformed or de-form-ed?

• A. Derived words
• B. Roots
• C. Multi-word units
• D. Lexical field

Answer: (A)

Words formed by attaching bound morphemes to a base are called derived words. Bound morphemes, like prefixes and suffixes, can’t stand alone, so they attach to a base to give a new meaning or grammatical category. In deformed, the base form is enhanced by the prefix de- and the suffix -ed, producing a new word that conveys a changed state and different form or tense. This process of creating new words by affixation is what we call derivation. The other terms don’t describe how new words are built: roots are the basic morphemes that affixes attach to, multi-word units are phrases, and lexical field is about related meanings in a semantic space.