Editing Word stem (section)

{{short description|Part of a word responsible for its lexical meaning}}

In [[linguistics]], a '''word stem''' is a [[word]] part responsible for a word's [[lexical item|lexical]] meaning. The term is used with slightly different meanings depending on the [[Morphology (linguistics)|morphology]] of the language in question. For instance, in [[Athabaskan languages|Athabaskan linguistics]], a verb stem is a [[root (linguistics)|root]] that cannot appear on its own and that carries the [[tone (linguistics)|tone]] of the word.

Typically, a stem remains unmodified during [[inflection]] with few exceptions due to [[apophony]] (for example in [[Polish language|Polish]], {{lang|pl|miast-o}} ("city") and {{lang|pl|w mieść-e}} ("in the city"); in English, ''sing'', ''sang'', and ''sung'', where it can be modified according to morphological rules or peculiarities, such as [[sandhi]]).

Word stem comparisons across [[language]]s have helped reveal [[cognate|cognates]] that have allowed [[comparative linguistics|comparative linguists]] to determine [[language family|language families]] and [[historical linguistics|their history]].<ref name="AHD_IndoEuropRoots">{{Citation |author=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt |title=The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language: Indo-European Roots Appendix |publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt |url=https://ahdictionary.com/word/indoeurop.html |postscript=.}}</ref>