Lexical Formation + Change

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compounds
words formed by combining two or more words (wheel + chair = wheelchair)
1 of 16
affixation
words with Latin/Greek affixes combined with roots from these languages (postpone, rejuvenate, supersonic)
2 of 16
borrowings
words that originate from a different language (sauna, ballet, guitar)
3 of 16
eponyms
words formed from the name of a related person or brand (hoover, biro)
4 of 16
acronyms
made from the initial letters of a longer phrase and said as a word (laser, AIDS, radar)
5 of 16
initialisms
made from the initial letters of a longer phrase and said pronouncing each letter individually (GCSEs, MRI, OMG)
6 of 16
abbreviation/clipping
the shortened form of a word (gym, bike, maths)
7 of 16
backformation
a word incorrectly assumed to be the root of a longer word (burglar -> burgle, editor -> edit)
8 of 16
broadening
a word expanded from a narrow meaning to be more general ("bird" once meant a nestling, "dog" once meant a specific species)
9 of 16
narrowing
a general word that has had its meaning made more specific ("deer" meant all livestock, "meat" meant all food)
10 of 16
drift
meaning has shifted over time ("nice" meant ignorant, "silly" meant holy then happy)
11 of 16
amelioration
a word with negative connotations becomes milder ("naughty" meant evil, "wicked" now means good)
12 of 16
pejoration
a word with positive connotations becomes worse ("villain" used to just mean someone of low social class but wasn't bad)
13 of 16
blending
hybrids of multiple words (breakfast + lunch = brunch)
14 of 16
onomatopoeia
words that represent a sound (scratch, buzz, smash)
15 of 16
conversion
words that are usually one class being used as another (to access, a meetup)
16 of 16

Other cards in this set

Card 2

Front

words with Latin/Greek affixes combined with roots from these languages (postpone, rejuvenate, supersonic)

Back

affixation

Card 3

Front

words that originate from a different language (sauna, ballet, guitar)

Back

Preview of the back of card 3

Card 4

Front

words formed from the name of a related person or brand (hoover, biro)

Back

Preview of the back of card 4

Card 5

Front

made from the initial letters of a longer phrase and said as a word (laser, AIDS, radar)

Back

Preview of the back of card 5
View more cards

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