back-formation

English

back-formation on Wikipedia

Alternative forms

backformation, back formation

Etymology

From back- + formation. Coined by British lexicographer and philologist, primary editor of the Oxford English Dictionary James Murray in 1888.^[1]

Pronunciation

enPR: băk′fôr-mā′shən
(Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌbæk.fɔːˈmeɪ̯.ʃən/, /ˌbak.fɔːˈmeɪ̯.ʃən/
- Audio (Southern England): (file)
(Scotland) IPA^(key): /ˌbak.fɔɾˈme.ʃən/
(General American, Canada) IPA^(key): /ˌbæk.foɹˈmeɪ̯.ʃən/
(Australia) IPA^(key): /ˌbæk.foːˈmæɪ̯.ʃən/
(New Zealand) IPA^(key): /ˌbɛk.foːˈmæɪ̯.ʃən/
Rhymes: -eɪʃən
Hyphenation: back-for‧ma‧tion

Noun

Examples (back-formed word)
English babysitter → babysit English landlubber → landlubbing English bedridden → -ridden English inept → ept French machine → machin German allmächtig → Allmacht Latin oculī → oculus (possibly) Māori kōataata → kōata

back-formation (countable and uncountable, plural back-formations)

(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.
(countable) A word created in this way.
Synonym: back-form

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

Derived terms

Translations

linguistic process

Arabic: اشْتِقَاق عَكْسِيّ (ar) m (ištiqāq ʕaksiyy)
Danish: subtraktionsdannelse c
Dutch: terugvorming (nl)
Esperanto: retrodeveno (eo)
Finnish: takaperoisjohto (fi)
French: dérivation régressive (fr) f, dérivation inverse (fr) f, rétroformation (fr) f
German: Rückbildung (de) f
Greek: αναδρομικός σχηματισμός (el) m (anadromikós schimatismós)
Hebrew: גְּזִירָה לְאָחוֹר (he) (gzira leakhor)
Hungarian: elvonás (hu), szóelvonás (hu)
Ido: please add this translation if you can
Interlingua: please add this translation if you can
Italian: retroformazione (it)
Japanese: 逆成 (ja) (gyakusei)
Norwegian:
Bokmål: tilbakedannelse m, tilbakedanning c

Nynorsk: please add this translation if you can
Polish: derywacja wsteczna (pl) f
Portuguese: derivação regressiva (pt) f
Romanian: derivare regresivă (ro) f
Russian: обра̀тное словообразова́ние n (obràtnoje slovoobrazovánije)
Sorbian:
Lower Sorbian: please add this translation if you can

Upper Sorbian: naspjetna deriwacija f
Spanish: derivación regresiva f
Swedish: omvänd ordbildning
Vietnamese: phái sinh ngược
Volapük: please add this translation if you can
Welsh: ôl-ffurfiad m

word formed by this linguistic process

Arabic: مُشْتَقَّة عَكْسِيًّا f (muštaqqa(t) ʕaksiyyan)
Danish: subtraktionsdannelse c
Dutch: please add this translation if you can
Esperanto: please add this translation if you can
Finnish: takaperoisjohdos (fi)
French: please add this translation if you can
German: Rückbildung (de) f
Greek: αναδρομικός σχηματισμός (el) m (anadromikós schimatismós)
Hebrew: please add this translation if you can
Hungarian: elvonás (hu)
Ido: please add this translation if you can
Interlingua: please add this translation if you can
Italian: please add this translation if you can
Japanese: please add this translation if you can
Norwegian:
Bokmål: tilbakedannelse m, tilbakedanning c

Nynorsk: please add this translation if you can
Polish: derywat wsteczny m inan
Portuguese: please add this translation if you can
Romanian: please add this translation if you can
Russian: please add this translation if you can
Sorbian:
Lower Sorbian: please add this translation if you can

Upper Sorbian: naspjetna deriwacija f
Spanish: derivado regresivo m
Swedish: please add this translation if you can
Vietnamese: please add this translation if you can
Volapük: please add this translation if you can
Welsh: ôl-ffurf f

References

^ “burgle”, in A New English Dictionary […] (in British English), quoted in OED, 1888, page 1186: “[A back-formation from Burglar, of very recent appearance, though English law-Latin (1354) had a verb burgulāre of same meaning.]”