back-formation

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Noun

back-formation (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.

   Back-formations, such as "tambour" (for "play the tambourine"), are a staple of comedic wordplay.

Synonyms

• (a word created by back-formation) back-form

Translations

• French: dérivation régressive, dérivation inverse, rétroformation
• German: Rückbildung
• Italian: retroformazione
• Portuguese: derivação regressiva
• Russian: обра́тное словообразова́ние
• Spanish: derivación regresiva

Translations

• Spanish: derivado regresivo

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