What is a morpheme?

A morpheme is defined as the smallest meaningful unit of a language. This means that it cannot be further divided into smaller units without losing its meaning. Morphemes can be entire words, such as "book," or parts of words, like prefixes and suffixes. For example, in the word "unhappiness," "un-", "happy," and "-ness" are all morphemes that contribute to the overall meaning of the word. Understanding morphemes is crucial for analyzing how words are constructed and how meanings are formed in a language.

The choice that refers to the largest meaningful unit in a language might suggest a broader concept, but it does not accurately define a morpheme, which focuses specifically on the smallest unit. The options regarding linguistic errors and phonetic units do not relate to the definition of a morpheme and therefore are not accurate representations of what a morpheme is.