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In linguistics, back-formation is the process of forming a new word by removing actual affixes, or parts of the word that is re-analyzed as an affix, from other words to create a base. [5] Examples include: the verb headhunt is a back-formation of headhunter. the verb edit is formed from the noun editor[5]
t. e. In linguistics, morphology (mor-FOL-ə-jee[1]) is the study of words, including the principles by which they are formed, and how they relate to one another within a language. [2][3] Most approaches to morphology investigate the structure of words in terms of morphemes, which are the smallest units in a language with some independent meaning.
Meaning Origin language and etymology Example(s) -iasis: condition, formation, or presence of Latin -iasis, pathological condition or process; from Greek ἴασις (íasis), cure, repair, mend mydriasis: iatr(o)-of or pertaining to medicine or a physician (uncommon as a prefix but common as a suffix; see -iatry)
Morphological derivation. Morphological derivation, in linguistics, is the process of forming a new word from an existing word, often by adding a prefix or suffix, such as un- or -ness. For example, unhappy and happiness derive from the root word happy. It is differentiated from inflection, which is the modification of a word to form different ...
Conversion (word formation) In linguistics, conversion, also called zero derivation or null derivation, is a kind of word formation involving the creation of a word (of a new part of speech) from an existing word (of a different part of speech) without any change in form, [1] which is to say, derivation using only zero.
Neologism. In linguistics, a neologism[ a ] is any newly formed word, term, or phrase that nevertheless has achieved popular or institutional recognition and is becoming accepted into mainstream language. [ 1 ] Most definitively, a word can be considered a neologism once it is published in a dictionary. [ 2 ]
v. t. e. Etymology (/ ˌɛtɪˈmɒlədʒi /, ET-im-OL-ə-jee[1]) is the scientific study of the origins of words, including the origins of their constituent units of sound and meaning (phonemes and morphemes), [2][3] as well as their changes in pronunciation and meaning across time. It is a subfield of historical linguistics, philology, and ...
Compound (linguistics) In linguistics, a compound is a lexeme (less precisely, a word or sign) that consists of more than one stem. Compounding, composition or nominal composition is the process of word formation that creates compound lexemes. Compounding occurs when two or more words or signs are joined to make a longer word or sign.