Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
In linguistics, a neologism (/ n i ˈ ɒ l ə ˌ dʒ ɪ z əm /; also known as a coinage) is any newly formed word, term, or phrase that 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]
This page was last edited on 12 February 2024, at 13:49 (UTC).; Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License; additional terms may apply.
Icelandic rafmagn, "electricity", is a half-calqued [definition needed] coinage that literally means "amber power". raf translates the Greek root ἤλεκτρον (ḗlektron), which means "amber" magn, "power", is descriptive of electricity's nature but not a direct calque from the source word "electricity" Samviska (conscience).
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]
The distinction between inflection and word formation is not at all clear-cut. There are many examples for which linguists fail to agree whether a given rule is inflection or word formation. The next section will attempt to clarify the distinction. Word formation includes a process in which one combines two complete words, but inflection allows ...
stunt word: a nonce word intentionally coined to demonstrate the creator's cleverness or elicit an emotional reaction, such as admiration or laughter; such words are often noted in the works of Dr. Seuss, as in "Sometimes I am quite certain there's a Jertain in the curtain", in which the one-time use of Jertain refers to some unspecified ...
One example is the suffix -ol used to name alcohols, such as methanol. Its origin is the rebracketing of al‧cohol as alcoh‧ol. The word alcohol derives from the Arabic al-kuḥl, in which al is the definite article and kuḥl (i.e., kohl) is based on the Semitic triliteral root K-Ḥ-L. [6]
For example, the noun green in golf (referring to a putting-green) is derived ultimately from the adjective green. Conversions from adjectives to nouns and vice versa are both very common and unnotable in English; much more remarked upon is the creation of a verb by converting a noun or other word (for example, the adjective clean becomes the ...