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Fun with Apocopes

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A list of 198 words by reesetee.

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Words created by removing the end of a longer or original word. See also Fun with Aphesis.

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  • bilby See comment by adoarns on sat. Oct 20, 2008

  • johnmperry sod = sodomite Jul 19, 2008

  • johnmperry telly - UK vernacular for television Jul 19, 2008

  • reesetee Thanks, all! May 12, 2008

  • rolig Yet another common apocope, one that does double duty: rev, as in "Nice sermon, Rev! And now I'm all revved up to do some good deeds." May 9, 2008

  • sarra you've got sci fi; how about sat nav? (Weirdly its Google status is still as two words. I thought it'd've been condensed by now.) I woke up with this one. May 9, 2008

  • sionnach I realise that these may not be politically correct, but bi, homo, fag, and tranny would fit the criterion.

    Less potentially offensive: lino, butt, blankie, bacchus and his pards. May 9, 2008

  • pterodactyl How about dorm? May 8, 2008

  • gangerh Epocopa? May 8, 2008

  • rolig Here's another common one: grid, though my dictionary lists it as a back-formation (from gridiron). May 8, 2008

  • rolig Of course you're right about "edit" being a back-formation, though I suppose back-formations are a particular kind of apocope. May 8, 2008

  • reesetee Thanks, all. Geez, don't know how I missed obit, especially. Rolig, I think "edit" is more a back-formation than an apocope. But don't worry--I have a list for back-formations too. ;-) May 8, 2008

  • rolig Two common examples: exam and obit.

    Edit: I see you have exam on page 2. But come to think of it, what about edit (n.), as short for "editing"? Tricky, I guess.

    Do you have hack yet (orig. from hackney)? A case of an apocopic toponym. May 8, 2008

  • chained_bear I love sionnach's comment. I'm going to go around posting it on other lists. "This list is remarkably rhino-free." May 8, 2008

  • mollusque And dino-free. May 8, 2008

  • reesetee Irish English? And all this time I thought it was Brooklynese. May 8, 2008

  • sionnach This list is remarkably rhino-free. May 8, 2008

  • sionnach 'dis' is, of course, a time-honored demonstrative adjective in Irish English. Together with its brother, 'dat' and its cousins, 'dese' and 'dose'. May 8, 2008

  • reesetee I've always assumed it's short for "disrespect," although I do agree with bilby--it always sounds vague to me and I've never much cared for it.

    Still, in the interest of thoroughness--and because it's also a city in The Divine Comedy, not to mention the NYSE symbol for the Disney Company--I'll add it. ;-)

    *also hoping not to be dissed by sarra* May 8, 2008

  • sarra disrespect, there's no doubt. Though it is of course rich with other possibilities (making it one of the kings of apocopes, rather, I'd've thought.) Pick a preferred source and see what it has to say? May 8, 2008

  • bilby I'm put off by the muddiness of dis. It's apocope of what? Disparage, dismiss, disabuse, discredit, dismiss, dis...? I won't have it on my own apocope list until I can pin it down a bit. Call me back in 2030. May 8, 2008

  • sarra no dis?!

    I'm off to dis you in front of my friends! (It is a strain for me not to spell it diss, mind.) May 8, 2008

  • slumry Funny, I was thinking Christmas thoughts this morning, too. I think it was the misled/mizzled thread. I thought there should be a joke about someone being misled by mistletoe, but I could not quite get there. . .something about work getting in the way!

    I have never liked "tot" for "total" either, although I suspect that if I were from a linguistic environment where that was standard I would have a different opinion. Come to think of it, I have never liked the verb tote much either. Again, it is probably a regional preference. Jul 18, 2007

  • reesetee I suppose as a good junk food eater I should. ;-) But no, I think of young'uns. Must be that Christmas song that includes "tiny tots with their eyes all aglow." Or...boy, where'd that come from?? Jul 18, 2007

  • jennarenn You don't immediately think of tater tots? Jul 18, 2007

  • reesetee Thanks, s! For some reason "tot" as short for "total" grates on my nerves, so I'm adding it instead as short for "totterer" (small child). :-) Jul 18, 2007

  • slumry tot (total); tad (probably tadpole); merc (mercantile); sib Jul 17, 2007

  • slumry I wondered about where suss came from. It seems that it is short for suspect. (Then why not sus?) Jul 12, 2007

  • reesetee How did I miss that one? Thanks, s. Jul 11, 2007

  • slumry Ah, temp for both temporary and temperature. Jul 11, 2007

  • reesetee Thanks, S! I agree--I don't think "chick" is a shortened version of a word in this use; more like a nickname. And since I already have lit listed, I'll just add crit. You also reminded me of audio and stereo (along the lines of video). Mar 6, 2007

  • sionnach lit crit, promo, pomo (for post-modern). I'd suggest chick flick and chick lit, but I'm not sure what exactly is abbreviated by those terms. video might be another possibility. Mar 5, 2007

  • reesetee Well, thank heavens for seanahan, or I wouldn't know a damn thing about this list! ;-) Mar 5, 2007

  • seanahan Actually, newbie is short for newbitron. Mar 5, 2007

  • trivet I thought newbie came from British boarding schools - shortened from new boy. Mar 4, 2007

  • uselessness Hmm. I could see that, in the late '80s, when people actually talked that way. Back when "Welcome to our humble BBS, newcomer" was more common than "omgz u hvae a mspace lolollol?!?" Mar 4, 2007

  • reesetee I remember "newbie" being coined as a name for newcomers to the 'net. Mar 4, 2007

  • uselessness What is newbie short for? I think noob is a shorter form of it, but I'm pretty sure "newbie" is the long version, itself a made-up word. I'd love to be proven wrong, though. :-) Mar 4, 2007

  • reesetee Thanks, AZ. Wow, I'd forgotten all about term. Sometimes these words become so common that most people forget that they were ever part of a longer word. Amazing how many of them are in use, too. Mar 4, 2007

  • abraxaszugzwang how's about porn, term, specs (for spectacles), rad, non trad, bull, sim Mar 4, 2007

  • valse Ah, I see. Thank you for the clarification =] Mar 3, 2007

  • seanahan Zipf's law describes the frequency of many things, including words. Mar 3, 2007

  • reesetee Thanks, Valse! All good ideas. Prep was shortened from preparatory, I believe.

    I've only heard Zipf's law used to describe the frequency of word occurrences, not for shortening words--although I believe apocope can also refer to cases where, for example, you drop the "g" on an "-ing" word. Mar 3, 2007

  • valse And rep Mar 3, 2007

  • valse prep as in prep course? dem for democrat, chem, phenom (which sounds very odd to me). noob or newb?

    Isn't this what they call Zipf's law?
    Mar 2, 2007