Understanding English Word Formation Processes

Neologism

A new word in our language.

Etymology

The study of the origin and history of a word. It has its origins in Greek.

Coinage

The invention of totally new terms. The most typical sources are invented trade names for commercial products that become general terms. Examples: Aspirin, Vaseline, nylon, etc.

Eponyms

A word based on the name of a person or a place. These are usually based on the names of those who first discovered or invented things.

Calque

A direct translation of the elements of a word into the borrowing language. Example: Hot dogs (perros calientes).

Compounding

The process of combining words. Examples: bookcase, textbook.

Blending

The combination of two separate forms to produce a single new term by taking the first part of one word and the last part of another.

Clipping

A process that occurs when a word of more than one syllable is reduced to a shorter form, usually in casual speech. Example: Brassiere (bra).

Hypocorism

A type of reduction favored in Australian and British English in which a longer word is reduced to a single syllable. Example: movie (moving pictures).

Backformation

A specialized type of reduction in which a word of one type (noun) is reduced to a form of another type (verb). Example: Noun = television, verb = televise.

Conversion

A change in the function of a word without any reduction. Examples: nouns used as verbs (vacation = vacationing in Florida; dirty = to dirty).

Acronyms

New words formed from the initial letters of a set of other words. Example: VIP (very important people).

Derivation

The most common word-formation process in the production of new words, accomplished by means of small “bits” of the English language (e.g., un-, mis-, pre-, -ful).

Affixes

Small bits of the English language.

Prefixes

Affixes added to the beginning of a word.

Suffixes

Affixes added to the end of a word.

Infixes

Affixes incorporated inside another word. Example: Kamhmu.

Analogy

New words formed to be similar in some way to existing words. Example: Yuppie (hippie and yippie).

Content Words

Words that denote concepts. Nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs are part of this category. They are also called open class words because we can add new words to these classes.

Function Words

Words that do not have clear lexical meanings or concepts associated with them. Conjunctions, prepositions, articles, and pronouns are part of this category. They are called closed class words because we cannot add new words to them.

Lexicography

A branch of linguistics involving the composition and editing of dictionaries.

Morphemes

The minimal units of meaning. Examples: Boy, morph, -ology, -ish, -ness.

Free Morpheme

A morpheme that can stand alone as a word without another morpheme. It does not need anything attached to it to make a word.