# morph
## English
### Pronunciation

* enPR: mô(r)f, IPA: /mɔː(ɹ)f/
* Audio (Southern England):(file)
* Rhymes: -ɔː(ɹ)f

### Etymology 1

Back-formation from morpheme, from Ancient Greek μορφή (morphḗ, “form, shape”). Compare German Morph, from Morphem. Attested since the 1940s.

#### Noun

morph (plural morphs)
* (grammar, linguistics) A recurrent distinctive sound or sequence of sounds representing an indivisible morphological form; especially as representing a morpheme.
* (linguistics) An allomorph: one of a set of realizations that a morpheme can have in different contexts.

##### Derived terms

* empty morph
* zero morph

##### Translations
#### References

* “morph, n.3.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, December 2002.

### Etymology 2

Back-formation from morphism. Attested since the 1950s. See also morphology.

#### Noun

morph (plural morphs)
* (zoology) A variety of a species, distinguishable from other individuals of the species by morphology or behaviour.
** 2010, T.J. Pandian, Sexuality in Fishes, page 51:Briefly, the yellow morphic males can change their status from paired to satellite and from satellite to the paired one. However, they cannot cross into the status of the red morph.

##### Translations
#### References

* “morph, n.4.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, December 2002.

### Etymology 3

Clipping of metamorphose

#### Verb

morph (third-person singular simple present morphs, present participle morphing, simple past and past participle morphed)
* (colloquial, ambitransitive, computer graphics) To change shape, from one form to another, through computer animation.
* (science fiction, fantasy) To shapeshift.
** 1993, Peter David, The Siege:Meta leapt forward. In midair his lower half morphed, and suddenly he was one-half humanoid, one-half coiled spring.
** 2015 January 30, Dan Shive, El Goonish Shive - EGS:NP (webcomic), Comic for Friday, Jan 30, 2015:"Would it reflect badly on women if I morphed my bust size up a bit for it? Sorta like wearing a padded bra?"
* (by extension) To undergo dramatic change in a seamless and barely noticeable fashion.
** June 18 2013, Simon Romero, “Protests Widen as Brazilians Chide Leaders”, in New York Times‎, retrieved 21 June 2013:By the time politicians in several cities backed down on Tuesday and announced that they would cut or consider reducing fares, the demonstrations had already morphed into a more sweeping social protest, with marchers waving banners carrying slogans like “The people have awakened.”
** 2014, Astra Taylor, quoting Richard Florida, chapter 2, in The People's Platform: Taking Back Power and Culture in the Digital Age, Henry Holt and Company, →ISBN:“Highbrow and lowbrow, alternative and mainstream, work and play, CEO and hipster are all morphing together today,” [Richard] Florida enthuses.

#### Noun

morph (plural morphs)
* A computer-generated gradual change from one image to another.
** 2000, Vivian Carol Sobchack, Meta Morphing, page 123:But what is this metasubstance that blinks at us from the apex of the morph, and that in Terminator 2 is hyperbolized in the quicksilver substratum of the T-1000?

##### Derived terms

* blorph

### Etymology 4

Clipping of morphine

#### Noun

morph (uncountable)
* (slang) morphine
** 2008, Donald Bodey, F.N.G., page 103:They're bringing you some morph before long. […] The tube has its own needle, and the medic jabs it in like he has done it a million times, then marks Chickenfeed's forehead so the Rear will know he's already had morphine.

### Etymology 5

Clipping of morphodite

#### Noun

morph (plural morphs)
* A hermaphrodite, an intersex person.
** 1990 April 7, Roy Vance, “Personal advertisement”, in Gay Community News, page 18:I am seeking to correspond with a TV [transvestite] or a natural morph. I want them to be passive (I'm totally non-violent) but open in feelings and ideas. I need no financial support, only moral support from a person with small sex parts.

### Related terms

* morphic
* morpho-
* morphological
* muscle morph

### Further reading

* morphing on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
* polymorphism (biology) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia