How many morphemes are in the word ‘unhappiness’?

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The word ‘unhappiness’ consists of three morphemes. To understand this, we can break down the word into its morphological components:

  1. The prefix "un-" is the first morpheme, which means "not."
  2. The root word "happy" is the second morpheme; it is the core meaning of the word.
  3. The suffix "-ness" is the third morpheme, which turns an adjective (happy) into a noun (happiness), indicating a state or condition.

Combining these three morphemes gives us the overall meaning conveyed by the word ‘unhappiness,’ which refers to the state of being not happy. Thus, the correct answer is three morphemes, resulting in the overall structure of the word being understood for its components.

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