etymology Etymology ()The New Oxford Dictionary of English (1998) – p. 633 "Etymology /ˌɛtɪˈmɒlədʒi/ the study of the class in words and the way their meanings have changed throughout time". is the study of the history of the Phonological chan ...

, back-formation is the process or result of creating a new word via

inflection In linguistic morphology, inflection (or inflexion) is a process of word formation in which a word is modified to express different grammatical categories such as tense, case, voice, aspect, person, number, gender, mood, animacy, and defin ...

, typically by removing or substituting actual or supposed

affix In linguistics, an affix is a morpheme that is attached to a word stem to form a new word or word form. Affixes may be derivational, like English ''-ness'' and ''pre-'', or inflectional, like English plural ''-s'' and past tense ''-ed''. They ar ...

es from a

lexical item In lexicography, a lexical item is a single word, a part of a word, or a chain of words ( catena) that forms the basic elements of a language's lexicon (≈ vocabulary). Examples are ''cat'', ''traffic light'', ''take care of'', ''by the way' ...

, in a way that expands the number of

lexeme A lexeme () is a unit of lexical meaning that underlies a set of words that are related through inflection. It is a basic abstract unit of meaning, a unit of morphological analysis in linguistics that roughly corresponds to a set of forms taken ...

s associated with the corresponding

root word A root (or root word) is the core of a word that is irreducible into more meaningful elements. In morphology, a root is a morphologically simple unit which can be left bare or to which a prefix or a suffix can attach. The root word is the prima ...

.Crystal, David. ''A Dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics, Sixth Edition'', Blackwell Publishers, 2008. The resulting is called a ''back-formation'', a term coined by James Murray in 1889. (''

Oxford English Dictionary Online The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED'') is the first and foundational historical dictionary of the English language, published by Oxford University Press (OUP). It traces the historical development of the English language, providing a com ...

'' preserves its first use of 'back-formation' from 1889 in the definition of ''to burgle''; from ''burglar''.) For example, the

noun A noun () is a word that generally functions as the name of a specific object or set of objects, such as living creatures, places, actions, qualities, states of existence, or ideas.Example nouns for: * Living creatures (including people, alive, d ...

''resurrection'' was borrowed from

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

, and the

verb A verb () is a word (part of speech) that in syntax generally conveys an action (''bring'', ''read'', ''walk'', ''run'', ''learn''), an occurrence (''happen'', ''become''), or a state of being (''be'', ''exist'', ''stand''). In the usual descri ...

''resurrect'' was then back-formed hundreds of years later from it by removing the ''-ion''

suffix In linguistics, a suffix is an affix which is placed after the stem of a word. Common examples are case endings, which indicate the grammatical case of nouns, adjectives, and verb endings, which form the conjugation of verbs. Suffixes can carry ...

. This segmentation of ''resurrection'' into ''resurrect'' + ''ion'' was possible because

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

had examples of Latin words in the form of verb and verb+''-ion'' pairs, such as ''opine/opinion''. These became the pattern for many more such pairs, where a verb derived from a Latin supine stem and a noun ending in ''ion'' entered the language together, such as ''insert/insertion'', ''project/projection'', etc.

Similar phenomena

Back-formation may be similar to the reanalyses or

folk etymologies Folk etymology (also known as popular etymology, analogical reformation, reanalysis, morphological reanalysis or etymological reinterpretation) is a change in a word or phrase resulting from the replacement of an unfamiliar form by a more famili ...

when it rests on an erroneous understanding of the

morphology Morphology, from the Greek and meaning "study of shape", may refer to: Disciplines * Morphology (archaeology), study of the shapes or forms of artifacts * Morphology (astronomy), study of the shape of astronomical objects such as nebulae, galaxies ...

of the longer word. For example, the singular noun ''asset'' is a back-formation from the plural ''assets''. However, ''assets'' was not originally a plural; it is a

loanword A loanword (also loan word or loan-word) is a word at least partly assimilated from one language (the donor language) into another language. This is in contrast to cognates, which are words in two or more languages that are similar because th ...

from

Anglo-Norman Anglo-Norman may refer to: *Anglo-Normans, the medieval ruling class in England following the Norman conquest of 1066 * Anglo-Norman language **Anglo-Norman literature * Anglo-Norman England, or Norman England, the period in English history from 10 ...

''asetz'' (modern French ''assez''). The ''-s'' was reanalyzed as a plural suffix. Back-formation varies from

clipping Clipping may refer to: Words * Clipping (morphology), the formation of a new word by shortening it, e.g. "ad" from "advertisement" * Clipping (phonetics), shortening the articulation of a speech sound, usually a vowel * Clipping (publications) ...

– back-formation may change the word's

class Class or The Class may refer to: Common uses not otherwise categorized * Class (biology), a taxonomic rank * Class (knowledge representation), a collection of individuals or objects * Class (philosophy), an analytical concept used differentl ...

or meaning, whereas clipping creates shortened words from longer words, but does not change the class or meaning of the word. Words can sometimes acquire new lexical categories without any derivational change in form (for example, ''

ship A ship is a large watercraft that travels the world's oceans and other sufficiently deep waterways, carrying cargo or passengers, or in support of specialized missions, such as defense, research, and fishing. Ships are generally distinguished ...

'' (in the nautical sense) was first a noun and later was used as a verb). That process is called

conversion Conversion or convert may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * "Conversion" (''Doctor Who'' audio), an episode of the audio drama ''Cyberman'' * "Conversion" (''Stargate Atlantis''), an episode of the television series * "The Conversion" ...

or zero-derivation. Like back-formation, it can produce a new noun or a new verb, but it involves no back-forming.

In English

Back-formation may be particularly common in English given that many English words are borrowed from Latin, French and Greek, which together provide English a large range of common affixes. Many words with affixes have entered English, such as ''dismantle'' and ''dishevelled'', so it may be easy to believe that these are formed from roots such as ''mantle'' (assumed to mean "to put something together") and ''shevelled'' (assumed to mean "well-dressed"), although these words have no history of existing in English. Many words came into English by this route: ''pease'' was once a

mass noun In linguistics, a mass noun, uncountable noun, non-count noun, uncount noun, or just uncountable, is a noun with the syntactic property that any quantity of it is treated as an undifferentiated unit, rather than as something with discrete elemen ...

(as in "

pease pudding Pease pudding, also known as pease porridge, is a savoury pudding dish made of boiled legumes, typically split yellow peas, with water, salt and spices, and often cooked with a bacon or ham joint. A common dish in the north-east of England, ...

"), but was reinterpreted as a

plural The plural (sometimes abbreviated pl., pl, or ), in many languages, is one of the values of the grammatical category of number. The plural of a noun typically denotes a quantity greater than the default quantity represented by that noun. This de ...

, leading to the back-formation ''pea''. The noun ''statistic'' was likewise a back-formation from the field of study ''

statistics Statistics (from German language, German: ''wikt:Statistik#German, Statistik'', "description of a State (polity), state, a country") is the discipline that concerns the collection, organization, analysis, interpretation, and presentation of ...

''. In Britain, the verb ''burgle'' came into use in the nineteenth century as a back-formation from ''burglar'' (which can be compared to the

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

n verb ''burglarize'' formed by suffixation). Other examples are * Noun "taxon", a unit of classification in

taxonomy Taxonomy is the practice and science of categorization or classification. A taxonomy (or taxonomical classification) is a scheme of classification, especially a hierarchical classification, in which things are organized into groups or types. ...

, derived from

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

''taxis'' (arrangement)+''nomia'' "distribution" * Singular " sastruga", plural "sastrugi" (from

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

): new Latin-type singular "sastrugus" has been used sometimes * Singular "

syringe A syringe is a simple reciprocating pump consisting of a plunger (though in modern syringes, it is actually a piston) that fits tightly within a cylindrical tube called a barrel. The plunger can be linearly pulled and pushed along the inside ...

", from plural "syringes"; the original Greek singular is ''

syrinx In classical Greek mythology, Syrinx (Greek Σύριγξ) was a nymph and a follower of Artemis, known for her chastity. Pursued by the amorous god Pan, she ran to a river's edge and asked for assistance from the river nymphs. In answer, sh ...

''. Similar in nature is "

phalange The phalanges (singular: ''phalanx'' ) are digital bones in the hands and feet of most vertebrates. In primates, the thumbs and big toes have two phalanges while the other digits have three phalanges. The phalanges are classed as long bones. ...

", from plural "phalanges"; the original singular being ''

phalanx The phalanx ( grc, φάλαγξ; plural phalanxes or phalanges, , ) was a rectangular mass military formation, usually composed entirely of heavy infantry armed with spears, pikes, sarissas, or similar pole weapons. The term is particularly use ...

''.. * Singular ''

tamale A tamale, in Spanish tamal, is a traditional Mesoamerican dish made of masa, a dough made from nixtamalized corn, which is steamed in a corn husk or banana leaf. The wrapping can either be discarded prior to eating or used as a plate. Tamale ...

'', from the plural ''tamales''; the original

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...

singular is ''tamal''. * Verb "edit" from ''editor'' * Verbs "euthanase" or "euthanize" from the noun ''euthanasia''. The verb ''translate'' is a back-formation from ''translation'', which is from Latin ''trāns + lāt-'' + ''-tio''. ''Lāt-'' is from the very irregular (

suppletive In linguistics and etymology, suppletion is traditionally understood as the use of one word as the inflected form of another word when the two words are not cognate. For those learning a language, suppletive forms will be seen as "irregular" or even ...

) verb ''ferō'' 'to carry.' ''Trānslāt-'' in Latin was merely a semi-adjectival form of ''trānsferō'' meaning ' omethinghaving been carried across nto a new language (cf. ''transfer''). The result of the action ''trānsferō textum'' 'to translate a text' was a ''textus trānslātus'' 'a text that has been translated.' Thus the verb in English is really from a (semi-)adjectival form in Latin. Even though many English words are formed this way, new coinages may sound strange, and are often used for humorous effect. For example, ''gruntled'' (from ''disgruntled'') is used only in humorous contexts, as when

P. G. Wodehouse Sir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse, ( ; 15 October 188114 February 1975) was an English author and one of the most widely read humorists of the 20th century. His creations include the feather-brained Bertie Wooster and his sagacious valet, Jeev ...

wrote, "I could see that, if not actually disgruntled, he was far from being gruntled", or the character Turk in the American sitcom ''

Scrubs Scrub(s) may refer to: * Scrub, low shrub and grass characteristic of scrubland * Scrubs (clothing), worn by medical staff * ''Scrubs'' (TV series), an American television program * Scrubs (occupation), also called "scrub tech," "scrub nurse," o ...

'' told another character, "I don't disdain you! It's quite the opposite – I dain you." As it happens, ''gruntle'' and ''dain'' are both attested much earlier, but not as antonyms of the longer forms. Back-formations frequently begin in colloquial use and only gradually become accepted. For example, ''enthuse'' (from ''enthusiasm'') is gaining popularity, though today it is still generally considered nonstandard.See "Discussion of enthuse," https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/enthuse The immense celebrations in Britain at the news of the relief of the

Siege of Mafeking The siege of Mafeking was a 217-day siege battle for the town of Mafeking (now called Mafikeng) in South Africa during the Second Boer War from October 1899 to May 1900. The siege received considerable attention as Lord Edward Cecil, the son of ...

briefly created the verb ''to maffick'', meaning to celebrate both extravagantly and publicly. "Maffick" is a back-formation from ''Mafeking'', a place-name that was treated humorously as a

gerund In linguistics, a gerund ( abbreviated ) is any of various nonfinite verb forms in various languages; most often, but not exclusively, one that functions as a noun. In English, it has the properties of both verb and noun, such as being modifiable ...

participle In linguistics, a participle () (from Latin ' a "sharing, partaking") is a nonfinite verb form that has some of the characteristics and functions of both verbs and adjectives. More narrowly, ''participle'' has been defined as "a word derived from ...

. There are many other examples of back-formations in the English language.

Place names

As English place names are often British, and hence the study of Celtic scholars, back-formations have occurred in many ways over the centuries owing to English-speaking interpretations. For example, the

River Chelmer The River Chelmer is a river that flows entirely through the county of Essex, England, running from the northwest of the county through Chelmsford to the River Blackwater near Maldon. Course The source of the river is in the parish of Debden i ...

in Essex is named after the town of Chelmsford (''Chelmeresford'') which is derived from the Saxon personal name ''Cēolmǣr''.

In other languages

Israeli Hebrew

Back-formation in

Israeli Hebrew Israeli may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the State of Israel * Israelis, citizens or permanent residents of the State of Israel * Modern Hebrew, a language * ''Israeli'' (newspaper), published from 2006 to 2008 * Guni Israeli (b ...

often violates the prescriptive rules of the

Academy of the Hebrew Language The Academy of the Hebrew Language ( he, הָאָקָדֶמְיָה לַלָּשׁוֹן הָעִבְרִית, ''ha-akademyah la-lashon ha-ivrit'') was established by the Israeli government in 1953 as the "supreme institution for scholarship on t ...

.See p. 56 in

Ghil'ad Zuckermann Ghil'ad Zuckermann ( he, גלעד צוקרמן, ; ) is an Israeli-born language revivalist and linguist who works in contact linguistics, lexicology and the study of language, culture and identity. Zuckermann is Professor of Linguistics and Ch ...

(2020), '' Revivalistics: From the Genesis of Israeli to Language Reclamation in Australia and Beyond''
Oxford University Press
/ . For example: #משאבּ ''masháb'' "resource" (prescriptive form: משאב ''mash'áv'') is a back-formation from the plural form משאבּים ''mashabím''. #עקרבּ ''akráb'' "scorpion" (prescriptive form: עקרב ''‘aqráv'') is a back-formation from the plural form עקרבּים ''akrabím''.

References