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Wiktionary

back-formation

English

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 back-formation on Wikipedia
Examples (back-formation)

Alternative forms

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Etymology

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Coined by Scottish lexicographer and philologist James Murray in 1889; from back- +‎ formation.

Noun

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back-formation (countable and uncountable, plural back-formations)

  1. (uncountable, linguistics) The process by which a new word is formed from an older word by interpreting the former as a derivative of the latter, often by removing a morpheme (real or perceived) from the older word, such as the verb burgle, formed by removing -ar (perceived as an agent-noun suffix) from burglar.
  2. (countable) A word created in this way.
    Synonym: back-form
    Back-formations, such as "tambour" (for "play the tambourine"), are a staple of comedic wordplay.

Derived terms

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Translations

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See also

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