Word Formation Processes
Etymology
• The study of the origin and history of a word is known as etymology.
• Etymology is a term which comes to us through Latin, but has its origins in
Greek (e´tymon “original form” + logia “study of”)
Borrowing
• Borrowing is taking over words from other languages.
• English borrows from other languages.
• Many languages borrow from English
e.g. Japanese.
supaamaaketto
Borrowing
• Loan translation:
Direct translation of the elements of a word into the borrowing language.
• Many languages translated the term ‘skyscraper’ into its own vocabulary.
Compounding
• Compounding is the joining of two separate words to produce a single form.
• Compounding is very common in English and German.
• E.g. Compound nouns: Bookcase, doorknob, sunburn, butterfly, breakfast, textbook,
fingerprint, wastebasket, bookcase
Compound adjectives: low-paid, good-looking, fast-food
Blending
• The combination of two separate forms to produce a single form is blending.
• BUT Blending is accomplished by taking the beginning of one word and joining it to
the end of the other word.
• E.g. Smog (smoke + fog)
brunch (breakfast + lunch)
Spanglish (Spanish + English)
gasohol (gasoline + alcohol )
Telex (Teleprinter+exchange(
Clipping
• Clipping occurs when a word with more than one syllable is reduced to a shorter form.
• E.g. gas (gasoline)
fan (fanatic)
ad ( advertisement)
fax (facsimile)
prof, chem, exam, lab, math ….
Liz, Mike, Ron, Sam, …
Clipping
• A special type of reduction is hypocorisms:
a longer word is reduced to a single syllable, then a –y or –ie dded to the end.
• E.g. movie (moving picture)
hankie (handkerchief)
telly (television)
brekky (breakfast)
barbie (barbecue)
bickie (biscuits)
bookie (bookmaker)
Backformation
• In backformation, a word of one type (usually a noun) is reduced to form a word of
another type (usually a verb).
• E.g. Televise (television)
donate (donation)
babysit (babysitter)
emote (emotion)
opt (option)
Conversion
• Conversion is a change in the function of the word without any reduction.
• 1. Noun to a verb butter to butter
2. verb to a noun to spy a spy
3. verb to adjective see through a see-through material
Coinage (Invention)
Coinage is the invention of totally new terms.
Sources of coined words:
1. Trade names of commercial products that become general terms. (product name/
company)
e.g. aspirin, kleenex, vaseline , Kodak, nylon
2. New words based on the name of a person or a place (eponyms)
. e.g. hoover, jeans, sandwich, Fahrenheit
• One of the least common processes of word formation.
Acronyms
• Acronyms are new words formed from the initial letters of a set of other words.
• e.g. CD (compact disk)
VCR (video cassette recorder)
laser (light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation)
ATM (auto teller machine)
scuba (self contained underwater breathing apparatus)
sim (subscriber identity module)
NATO, NASA, UNESCO, ARAMCO, SABIC ….
Derivation
Derivation is accomplished by the use of affixes
Affixes
prefixes infixes suffixes
added to the not used added to the
beginning of in standard end of the word
a word English -ful or -less
un- or dis-
Infix
• English:
Absogodammlutely
Multiple Processes
• It is possible to trace the operation of more than one process in the creation of
a particular word.
