reanalyze

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English

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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From re- +‎ analyze.

Pronunciation

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Verb

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reanalyze (third-person singular simple present reanalyzes, present participle reanalyzing, simple past and past participle reanalyzed)

  1. (American spelling) To analyze again.
  2. (linguistics) To analyze a lexeme with a different structure from its original, often by misunderstanding.
    The word hamburger, which is originally Hamburg + -er, was reanalyzed as ham + -burger, which produced words like cheeseburger.
    • 2006, Shaligram Shukla, Jeff Connor-Linton, “Language change”, in Ralph Fasold, Jeff Connor-Linton, editors, An Introduction to Language and Linguistics, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 296:
      Thus hamburger (whose true etymology is 'city of Hamburg' + er 'someone from') has been reanalyzed as ham + burger 'burger made with ham.'

Derived terms

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