Word Formation (The Study of Language Chapter 5)

1) Neologism:
A neologism is a newly developed or coined word that has started to fall into mainstream
usage.
Examples of neologism:
❖ Freelance
❖ Cyberspace
❖ Google
❖ Selfie
❖ Aspirin
❖ Hoover
❖ Mansplain
❖ Spam
❖ Troll
❖ Spangler

2) Etymology:
The study of the origin and history of a word is known as its etymology.

Etymology is tracing a word back to its Latin roots.
Examples of etymology:
❖ Avocado (Origin: Nahuatl)
❖ Cappuccino (Origin: Italian/German)
❖ Disaster (Origin: Italian/Greek)
❖ Handicap (Origin: English)
❖ Jeans (Origin: Italian)
❖ Salary (Origin: Latin)
❖ Trivial (Origin: Latin)
❖ Whiskey (Origin: Gaelic)
❖ Avocado (Origin: Spanish)
❖ Cool (Origin: Germanic)

, and never return.

3) Borrowing:
It is a process in which words from one language are borrowed into another language for
use These words are also called borrowed words or loanwords.
Examples of borrowing:

❖ Piano (Italian)
❖ Tattoo (Tahitian)
❖ Jewel (French)
❖ Pretzel (German)
❖ Tycoon (Japanese)
❖ Ski (Norwegian)
❖ Yogurt (Turkish)
❖ Lilac (Persian)
❖ Sofa (Arabic)
❖ Zebra (Bantu)

4) Loan-translation:
In this process, there is a direct translation of the elements of a word into the borrowing
language.
Examples of loan-translation:
❖ Masterpiece
❖ Pinacolada
❖ Scrape-sky
❖ Computer mouse
❖ Chauffeur
❖ Ground hog
❖ Gratte-ciel
❖ Hamburger
❖ Sanskrit
❖ Flea market

5) Compounding:
Compounding is the joining of two separate words to produce a single form.
Examples of compounding:

❖ Blacklist
❖ Inside
❖ Football