back-formation

English

Alternative forms

• backformation, back formation

Etymology

Coined by James Murray; back + formation

Noun

back-formation (plural back-formations)

1. (uncountable, linguistics) The process by which a new word is formed by removing a morpheme (real or perceived) of an older word, such as the verb burgle, formed by removing -ar (perceived as a suffix forming an agent noun) 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

Derived terms

• back-form

Translations

linguistic process

• French: dérivation régressive (fr) f, dérivation inverse (fr) f, rétroformation (fr) f
• Hebrew: גזירה לאחור (he)
• Hungarian: elvonás (hu)

• Norwegian: tilbakedanning (no) c
• Portuguese: derivação regressiva (pt) f

word formed by this linguistic process

• Hungarian: elvonás (hu)

• Norwegian: tilbakedanning (no) c

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked

• Japanese: 逆成

See also

• Category:Back-formations by language
• Category:English back-formations