In etymology, the process of back-formation is the creation of a neologism by reinterpreting an earlier word as a compound and removing the spuriously supposed affixes. The resulting new word is also called a back-formation. Etymology is the study of the origins of words. ... A neologism is word, term, or phrase which has been recently created (coined) —often to apply to new concepts, or to reshape older terms in newer language form. ...

Many words came into English by this route: Pease was once a mass noun but was reinterpreted as a plural, leading to the back-formation pea; the noun statistic was likewise a back-formation from the field of study statistics, and asset was a back-formation from assets (originally Anglo-Norman asetz). In Britain the word burgle came into use in the 19th century as a back-formation from burglar (in America burglarize is used). In English, a mass noun is a type of noun that cannot be modified by a number without specifying a unit of measurement; thus mass nouns have singular but no plural forms. ... Note: This page contains IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. ... The Anglo-Norman language is the name given to the language spoken by the Anglo-Normans, the descendents of the Normans who ruled England following the conquest by William of Normandy in 1066. ...

The term is also often used by non-experts to include what, in the field of linguistics, is more accurately called a retronym. Broadly conceived, linguistics is the scientific study of human language, and a linguist is someone who engages in this study. ... A retronym is a new word or phrase coined for an old object or concept whose original name has become used for something else or is no longer unique. ...

Sometimes such changes occur in more than one stage. The word utopia, from the Greek for "nowhere", was reanalyzed as eu-topia, "good place"; replacing eu with dys as is commonly done, the word dystopia ("bad place", an ideally horrible world) was coined. Utopia, in its most common and general meaning, refers to a hypothetical perfect society. ... A dystopia (alternatively, cacotopia, kakotopia or anti-utopia) is the antithesis of a utopian society. ...

Even though many legitimate English words are formed this way, new coinages are often frowned upon, and are often used for humorous effect.

For example, gruntled or pervious (from disgruntled and impervious) would be considered mistakes today, and used only in humorous contexts. (The comedian George Gobel regularly used original back-formations in his humorous monologues.) George Leslie Gobel (May 20, 1919 - February 24, 1991) was an American comedian, born in Chicago, Illinois, and known as Lonesome George. ...

But burger (and beefburger, cheeseburger, etc., from hamburger) is in common use today though it would have been considered awkward or colloquial as late as the 1940s; and enthuse (from enthusiasm) is gaining popularity, though it is still considered substandard by some today — it will likely be in common use within a few years, particularly in its intransitive form, "He enthused over the presents." Hamburgers often contain lettuce, onions, and other toppings, as shown here. ...

Homo sapiens is Latin for thinking man and is in fact singular according to strict grammar rules (plural would be homines sapientes,) but many incorrectly take homo sapiens to be plural, and homo sapien to be singular.

More examples of back-formation

• babysit from babysitter
• back-form from back-formation — oddly enough
• bushwhack from bushwhacker
• donate from donation
• greed from greedy (the noun was originally "greediness")
• interfluve from interfluvial
• isolate from isolated
• lase from laser
• mase from maser
• liaise from liaison
• mix from mixt (adj. from Old French, misconstrued as p.p. of v.)
• resurrect from resurrection
• sightsee from sightseeing
• televise from television

Laser (US Air Force) A laser (Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation) is a device which uses a quantum mechanical effect, stimulated emission, to generate a coherent beam of light from a lasing medium of controlled purity, size, and shape. ... A maser is any optical amplifier that produces coherent microwaves due to stimulated emission. ... Old French is a term sometimes used to refer to the langue doïl, the continuum of varieties of Romance language spoken in territories corresponding roughly to the northern half of modern France and parts of Belgium and Switzerland during the period roughly from 1000 to 1300 A.D...

See also

• backronym