back-formation
Quick Summary
Back-formation is a linguistic process where a new word is created by removing a real or supposed affix from an existing word. This is the reverse of typical affixation, where affixes are added to form new words.123
Common examples include:
* Burgle from burglar14
* Televise from television13
* Donate from donation4
* Diagnose from diagnosis4
Often, back-formations result in verbs, but they can also be nouns, such as statistic from statistics. The word pea is a classic example, formed from the Middle English pease when people mistakenly believed the 's' was a plural marker.41
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