Which term describes morphemes that can exist independently as words?

The term that describes morphemes that can exist independently as words is "Free Morpheme." Free morphemes are the building blocks of language that can stand alone and convey meaning without needing to attach to other morphemes. Examples of free morphemes include simple words like "cat," "run," and "happy."

In contrast, bound morphemes cannot stand alone and must be attached to other morphemes to provide meaning, such as prefixes and suffixes like "un-" or "-ed." Inflectional morphemes are a type of bound morpheme that adds grammatical meaning, such as tense or plurality, and they cannot function on their own. Derivational morphemes also modify the meaning or grammatical category of a base word but, like inflectional morphemes, are bound and cannot exist as independent words.

Understanding the distinction between free and bound morphemes is fundamental in linguistics and helps in analyzing the structure of words and how they convey meaning.