List of English back-formations
Back-formation is either the process of creating a new lexeme (less precisely, a new "word") by removing actual or supposed affixes, or a neologism formed by such a process. Back-formations are shortened words created from longer words, thus back-formations may be viewed as a sub-type of clipping.
Each back-formation in this list is followed by the original word from which it was back-formed.
A
- aborigine from aborigines[1]
- accrete from accretion (root: accrescere)[2]
- acculturate from acculturation[2]
- addict from addicted (root: addicere)[2]
- admix from admixt[3]
- adsorb from adsorption[1]
- adolesce from adolescence[1]
- adulate from adulation[3]
- advect from advection[3]
- aesthete from aesthetic[2]
- aggress from aggression[4]
- air-condition from air conditioning[2]
- anticline from anticlinal[5]
- antipode from antipodes (non-standard)
- attrit from attrition[5]
- auto-destruct from auto-destruction (cf. auto-destroy)
- automate from automation[2][4]
- aviate from aviation[2]
B
- babysit from babysitter[2][4]
- back-form from back-formation
- bartend from bartender[5]
- beg from beggar
- benefact from benefactor (and also the derived benefactee, cf. benefactor)
- bibliograph from bibliography
- bicep from biceps (non-standard)[2]
- biograph from biography
- bird (verb) from bird watcher
- blockbust from blockbuster[5]
- book-keep from book-keeping
- brainwash from brainwashing[5]
- bulldoze from bulldozer[5]
- bum possibly from bummer[5]
- burgle from burglar[5][4]
- bus ("to clear dirty dishes from table") from busboy[5]
- bushwhack from bushwhacker[5]
- buttle from butler[5]
C
- cadge from cadger[2]
- caretake from caretaker
- cavitate from cavitation[1]
- chain-smoke from chain-smoker[4]
- Chess (river) from Chesham
- choate from inchoate
- choreograph from choreography[5]
- chupacabra from Spanish chupacabras (both a plural and a singular in Spanish)
- claustrophobe from claustrophobia
- cohese from cohesion (disambiguation) (cf. cohere)
- commentate from commentator[5][4]
- committal from non-committal
- complicit from complicity[3]
- computerize from computerized
- contracept from contraception (cf. rare contraceive)
- contrapt from contraption
- convect from convection[2]
- conversate from conversation or conversing[6]
- cose from cosy
- couth from uncouth[2]
- co-vary from covariation
- cross multiply from cross multiplication
- cross-refer from cross-reference[7]
- curate (verb) from curator[3]
- custom-make from custom-made
D
- dapple from dappled[5]
- darkle from darkling[2]
- decadent from decadence[2]
- deconstruct from deconstruction[5]
- dedifferentiate from dedifferentiation[5]
- demarcate from demarcation[2]
- demograph from demographics
- destruct from destruction[5]
- diagnose from diagnosis[2][4]
- diffract from diffraction[2]
- dinge from dingy[2]
- diplomat from diplomatic[5]
- dishevel from disheveled[2]
- donate from donation[2][4]
- drear from dreary
- drowse from drowsy (possibly a backformation)
- dry-clean from dry cleaning[5]
E
- eave from eaves[7]
- eavesdrop from eavesdropper[2]
- edit from editor (from Latin stem edere, to bring forth)[1][2]
- electrocute from electrocution[2]
- elocute from elocution[7]
- emote from emotion[5][4]
- enthuse from enthusiasm[5][4]
- escalate from escalator[5]
- eutrophicate from eutrophication
- evaluate from evaluation[2]
- explicate (meaning "explain") from explicable
- extradite from extradition[4]
- extrapose from extraposition[5]
F
- fine-tune from fine tuning[7]
- flab from flabby[2]
- flappable from unflappable[5]
- flake ("eccentric person") from flaky
- floss ("to show off") from flossy[7]
- fluoresce from fluorescence[2]
- fragmentate from fragmentation[5]
- free-associate from free association (backformed adjective-verb compound)[4]
- funk (quality of music) from funky[3]
G
- gamble from gambler[2]
- gestate from gestation[2]
- ghostwrite from ghostwriter[2]
- gid from giddy[2]
- gladiola from gladiolus[2]
- gnarl from gnarled[5]
- goaltend from goaltender
- godsend from god-sent[2]
- greed from greedy (the noun was originally "greediness")[5][4]
- grid from gridiron[2]
- grovel from groveling[2][4]
- grunge from grungy[2]
- gruntle from disgruntle[2]
H
- handwrite from handwriting[2]
- hard-boil from hard-boiled[2]
- hawk (meaning "to sell") from hawker[5]
- haze from hazy[2]
- headhunt from headhunter
- headquarter from headquarters[5]
- helicopt from helicopter
- herp (a reptile or amphibian) from herpetology
- herpe (a single herpes sore) from herpes
- housebreak from housebroken[2]
- houseclean from housecleaning[2]
- housekeep from housekeeper[2]
- hustle from hustler[2]
I
L
M
O
P
- panhandle (meaning "to accost") from panhandler[5]
- paramedic from paramedical
- partake from partaker[2]
- patriation from repatriation
- pea from Middle English pease[8]
- peddle from peddler[2][4]
- peeve from peevish[2][4]
- pettifog from pettifogger[5]
- phosphoresce from phosphorescent[2]
- pleb from plebs
- ply from reply
- preempt from preemption[2]
- process from procession[8]
- prodigal from prodigality[5]
- proliferate from proliferation[2]
- proofread from proofreader[5]
- pugn from impugn
Q
- quadrumvir from quadrumvirate[2]
- quantitate from quantitative
R
S
- sass (impudence) from sassy[5]
- scavenge from scavenger[1][4]
- sculpt from sculptor[5]
- secrete (meaning "to produce and emit") from secretion[2]
- secretive from secretiveness[2]
- sedate (the verb) from sedative[3]
- self-destruct from self-destruction (cf. self-destroy)[3][4]
- semantic (adjective) from semantics
- sharecrop from sharecropper[2]
- shoplift from shoplifter[2]
- sightsing from sightsinging
- sightsee from sightseeing[5]
- sipid from insipid[5]
- sleaze from sleazy[2]
- sleepwalk from sleepwalking[5]
- smarm from smarmy[2]
- sorb from sorption (also a back-formation)
- soft-land from soft landing (backformed adjective-noun compound)
- sorption from adsorption and absorption[2]
- spectate from spectator[5]
- stargaze from stargazer[2]
- statistic from statistics[4]
- stave (the noun) from staves (the original singular is staff)[2]
- steamroll from steamroller[5]
- stridulate from stridulation[2]
- suburb from suburban [2]
- suckle from suckling[2]
- sulk from sulky[2]
- summate from summation[2]
- sunburn (the verb) from sunburned[2]
- superannuate from superannuated[2]
- surreal from surrealism[5]
- surveil from surveillance[5]
- swashbuckle from swashbuckler[2]
- swindle from swindler[5]
- syncline from synclinal[5]
T
- tamale, as a singular of tamales (plural form of tamal)[5]
- tase from Taser
- taxon from taxonomy
- televise from television[5][4]
- tongue-lash from tongue-lashing[2]
- transcript (verb) from transcription (cf. verb transcribe)
- tricep from triceps (non-standard)
- trickle-irrigate from trickle-irrigation (possibly backformed from verb-noun compound but may also be verb-verb compound)
- tweeze from tweezers[5]
- typewrite from typewriter[2][4]
U
V
- vaccinate from vaccination[5]
- vend as in vend out (meaning to contract out to a vendor), derived from vendor
- vinify from vinification[2]
- vint (meaning to make wine) from vintage and vintner[7]
- vivisect from vivisection[2]
W
- wiretap from wiretapper[5]
gollark: <@302628368044523520> There are more coronavirus cases in population centers because that's where people are. There are 5G towers in population centers because that's where high enough densities of people to make 5G "useful" are. It's not complicated.
gollark: <@302628368044523520> I can't tell if you're being serious or not, but the article you linked actually says as much.
gollark: https://xkcd.com/1138
gollark: Isn't this one of those "basically a population heatmap" things?
gollark: Well, I have a lot of *music I like*, but this is inherently very subjective.
References
- Harper, Douglas (2001), Online Etymology Dictionary, retrieved 9 November 2009
- "Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary". 2009. Retrieved 9 November 2009.
- "The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language" (4 ed.). Houghton Mifflin Company. 2009. Retrieved 9 November 2009.
- Abootty, O. (December 15, 2004). Funny Side of English. Pustak Mahal. p. 29. ISBN 978-8122307993. Retrieved 31 July 2015.
- "Random House Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged" (4 ed.). Random House, Inc. 2009. Retrieved 9 November 2009.
- "Dictionary.com's 21st Century Lexicon". Dictionary.com, LLC. 2003–2009. Retrieved 9 November 2009.
- "Oxford English Dictionary". Oxford University Press. 2009.
- "Webster's New World College Dictionary". YourDictionary.com. Retrieved 9 November 2009.
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