back-formation
Word by subtraction
Back-formation is a word created by removing what looks like an affix from an existing word.
English speakers assumed "editor" contained a verb plus -or, so they created "edit." Similarly, "televise" came from "television," "burgle" from "burglar," and "enthuse" from "enthusiasm." The process reverses normal word-building, where roots come first and derivatives follow.
Newly created expression
- coinageInvented term or currency
- reanalysisStudying something again
- derivationSource or origin tracing
- lexicologyScience of vocabulary analysis
morpheme · analogy · etymon · productive · clipping · blending · word coinage
Modify written material
- televiseBroadcast by video
- burgleSteal from a building
- donateGive to charity
- enthuseExpress eager excitement
liaise · resurrect · sculpt · destruct · babysit · sightsee · emote · euthanize
Reduce in extent
subtract · reverse · extract · misanalysis · reinterpret · reconstruct · analogize · coin
Adding endings to words
- prefixationAdding to word starts
- affixWord-part modifier
- morphemeSmallest meaningful language unit
- rootUnderground absorbing structure
stem · derivation · inflection · affixation · truncation · word structure · ablaut · zero derivation
neologism
Newly created expression
- coinageInvented term or currency
- reanalysisStudying something again
- derivationSource or origin tracing
lexicology · morpheme · analogy · etymon · productive · clipping · blending · word coinage
edit
Modify written material
enthuse · liaise · resurrect · sculpt · destruct · babysit · sightsee · emote · euthanize · automate
shorten
Reduce in extent
strip · subtract · reverse · extract · misanalysis · reinterpret · reconstruct · analogize · coin · create
suffixation
Adding endings to words
- prefixationAdding to word starts
- affixWord-part modifier
- morphemeSmallest meaningful language unit
root · stem · derivation · inflection · affixation · truncation · word structure · ablaut · zero derivation
- etymologyword origins, word history, word origin, etymon, root words
- linguistic termsacronym, anagram, antonym, synonym, homonym
- linguisticslinguistics, phoneme, phonemes, morpheme, morphemes
- lexicologysynonyms, antonyms, homonyms, homophones, homographs
- language changelanguage change, linguistic diffusion, loan words, creolization, Great Vowel Shift
- word formationaffixes, affixation, roots, infix, morphemes
back-formationderivation
Source or origin tracing
affixation · suffixation · prefixation · compounding · agglutination
form, back, reform, formed, formation, transform, forming, formative