Morphology is the study of words and their structure. Words are made up of individual units of meaning called morphemes, which can be free or bound. Free morphemes can stand alone as words, while bound morphemes must be attached to other morphemes. There are two types of affixes - derivational, which form new words, and inflectional, which mark grammatical functions. New words can be formed through processes like compounding, acronyms, back-formations, abbreviations, eponyms, and blending.