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

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, ...

, 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. The main two categories are Morphological derivation, derivational and inflectional affixes. Derivational affixes, such as ''un-'', ''-ation' ...

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 (linguistics), catena) that forms the basic elements of a language's lexicon (≈ vocabulary). Examples are ''cat'', ''traffic light'', ''take ca ...

, 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 ta ...

s associated with the corresponding

root word A root (also known as a root word or radical) 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. Th ...

.Crystal, David. ''A Dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics, Sixth Edition'', Blackwell Publishers, 2008. James Murray coined the term ''back-formation'' in 1889. (''

Oxford English Dictionary Online The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED'') is the principal historical dictionary of the English language, published by Oxford University Press (OUP), a University of Oxford publishing house. The dictionary, which published its first editio ...

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

noun In grammar, a noun is a word that represents a concrete or abstract thing, like living creatures, places, actions, qualities, states of existence, and ideas. A noun may serve as an Object (grammar), object or Subject (grammar), subject within a p ...

''resurrection'' was borrowed from

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

, and the

verb A verb is a word that generally conveys an action (''bring'', ''read'', ''walk'', ''run'', ''learn''), an occurrence (''happen'', ''become''), or a state of being (''be'', ''exist'', ''stand''). In the usual description of English, the basic f ...

''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 and adjectives, and verb endings, which form the conjugation of verbs. Suffixes can ca ...

. This segmentation of ''resurrection'' into ''resurrect'' + ''ion'' was possible because English 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 (generative) popular etymology, analogical reformation, (morphological) reanalysis and etymological reinterpretation – is a change in a word or phrase resulting from the replacement of an unfamiliar form by a mo ...

when it rests on an erroneous understanding of the

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 a loan word, loan-word) is a word at least partly assimilated from one language (the donor language) into another language (the recipient or target language), through the process of borrowing. Borrowing is a metaphorical term t ...

from Anglo-Norman ''asetz'' (modern French ''assez''). The ''-s'' was reanalyzed as a plural suffix. Back-formation varies from clipping – back-formation may change the word's

class Class, Classes, 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 d ...

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, vessel that travels the world's oceans and other Waterway, navigable waterways, carrying cargo or passengers, or in support of specialized missions, such as defense, research and fishing. Ships are generally disti ...

'' (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 * ''The Convert'', a 2023 film produced by Jump Film & Television and Brouhaha Entertainment * "Conversion" (''Doctor Who'' audio), an episode of the audio drama ''Cyberman'' * ...

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 with those meanings 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 eleme ...

(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 In many languages, a plural (sometimes list of glossing abbreviations, abbreviated as pl., pl, , or ), is one of the values of the grammatical number, grammatical category of number. The plural of a noun typically denotes a quantity greater than ...

, 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: ', "description of a State (polity), state, a country") is the discipline that concerns the collection, organization, analysis, interpretation, and presentation of data. In applying statistics to a s ...

''. 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, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

n verb ''burglarize'' formed by suffixation). Other examples are * Singular "

sastruga Sastrugi, or zastrugi, are features formed by the erosion of snow by wind. They are found in polar regions, and in snowy, wind-swept areas of temperate regions, such as frozen lakes or mountain ridges. Sastrugi are distinguished by upwind-facin ...

", plural "sastrugi" (from

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

): 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 () was an Arcadian nymph and a follower of Artemis, known for her chastity. Being pursued by Pan, she fled into the river Ladon, and at her own request was metamorphosed into a reed from which Pan then mad ...

''. Similar in nature is " phalange", from plural "phalanges"; the original singular being ''

phalanx The phalanx (: phalanxes or phalanges) was a rectangular mass military formation, usually composed entirely of heavy infantry armed with spears, pikes, sarissas, or similar polearms tightly packed together. The term is particularly used t ...

''.. * Singular ''

tamale A tamale, in Spanish language, Spanish , is a traditional Mesoamerican dish made of ''masa'', a dough made from nixtamalization, nixtamalized maize, corn, which is steaming, steamed in a corn husk or Banana leaf, banana leaves. The wrapping ...

'', 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 countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

singular is ''tamal''. * Verbs "edit" from ''editor'', "babysit" from ''babysitter'', and "spelunk" from ''spelunker'' * Verb "donate" from ''donation'' * Verbs "euthanase" or "euthanize" from the noun ''euthanasia''. * Verb "prepone" from the verb "postpone" to mean "to advance." While used predominantly in Indian English, the earliest known use is from the works of John Irland, and predates the use of English in India. 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 inflection, inflected form of another word when the two words are not cognate. For those learning a language, suppletive forms will be seen as "irre ...

) 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 1881 – 14 February 1975) was an English writer and one of the most widely read humorists of the 20th century. His creations include the feather-brained Bertie Wooster and his sagacious valet, Je ...

wrote, "I could see that, if not actually disgruntled, he was far from being gruntled", or the character Turk in the American sitcom '' Scrubs'' 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. The Latin preposition ''versus'', meaning against, has frequently been mistaken by children and teenagers as the present tense of a verb "to verse." A reference to a school sports competition "the Sharks ''versus'' the Jets" might be interpreted as "the Sharks are versing the Jets." While this use of the verb has been reported in North America and Australia since the early 1980s, very few dictionaries have accepted it as standard. The immense celebrations in Britain at the news of the relief of the Siege of Mafeking 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 ger) is any of various nonfinite verb forms in various languages; most often, but not exclusively, it is one that functions as a noun. The name is derived from Late Latin ''gerundium,'' meaning "which is ...

participle In linguistics, a participle (; abbr. ) 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 a verb and used as an adject ...

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

butler A butler is a person who works in a house serving and is a domestic worker in a large household. In great houses, the household is sometimes divided into departments, with the butler in charge of the dining room, wine cellar, and pantries, pantr ...

is often described as "one who buttles," a verb which remains non-standard.

River names

Back-formations are frequent amongst river names in the England due to a number of reasons. Place names of Brittonic origin are especially susceptible to Folk Etymology and back-formations due to language and knowledge of the place names dying out with the arrival and settlement of Anglo-Saxon tribes. Frequently river names are derived from nearby settlements with the suffix -ford. Typically because it is assumed that the first half of the name is in reference to the river or stream. Below are some examples of these ''-ford back-formations''. River Alre The

river Alre The River Alre (also, occasionally, Arle) is a tributary of the River Itchen, Hampshire, River Itchen in Hampshire in the south of England. It rises in Bishop's Sutton and flows west for to meet the Itchen below New Alresford. The river is a c ...

in Hampshire, was named due to a false assumption that the nearby village Alresford was named after the river which it was located near. In reality its name comes from the

Old English Old English ( or , or ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. It developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ...

''alor''. Klingelhöfer, E. C (1992) Manor, vill, and hundred : the development of rural institutions in early medieval Hampshire. Ontario, p. 177 River Chelmer The

River Chelmer The River Chelmer flows entirely through the county of Essex, England; it runs from the north-west of the county through Chelmsford to the River Blackwater, near Maldon. Course The source of the river is in the parish of Debden in north west E ...

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 (, ''ha-akademyah la-lashon ha-ivrit'') was established by the Israeli government in 1953 as the "supreme institution for scholarship on the Hebrew language in the Hebrew University of Jerusalem of Givat Ram cam ...

.See p. 56 in

Ghil'ad Zuckermann Ghil'ad Zuckermann (, ; ) is an Israeli-born language revivalist and linguist who works in contact linguistics, lexicology and the study of language, culture and identity. Zuckermann was awarded the Rubinlicht Prize (2023) "for his researc ...

(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