Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun Change in the form of a word or phrase resulting from a mistaken assumption about its composition or meaning, as in shamefaced for earlier shamfast, “bound by shame,” or cutlet from French côtelette, “little rib.”
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A modification of a word resulting from a misunderstanding of its
etymology , as withisland ,belfry , andhangnail . - noun Such a misunderstanding; a
false etymology that incorrectly explains the origin of a word.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a popular but erroneous etymology
Etymologies
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Examples
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slumry commented on the word folk etymology
altering an unfamiliar word to make it more familiar
July 26, 2007
oroboros commented on the word folk etymology
See affix-clipping.
May 24, 2008
sarra commented on the word folk etymology
Contrary to misconceptions, folk etymology should not be used to describe an urban legend behind a word or phrase's origin. Ouch! That's me told.
January 3, 2009
qroqqa commented on the word folk etymology
Hm, I didn't know what I thought of this, until I found out I did: my magisterial, authoritative, ex-cathedra judgement under 'etymythology' was: To be distinguished from folk etymology, or is perhaps a kind of folk etymology.
I'm a big favourer of 'or perhaps' clauses. I'm not sure if there's any leather-bound book of dooms where the angels have recorded the true meanings of technical terms even in linguistics.
January 3, 2009