1. WORD FORMING PROCCESS COINAGE,
BLENDING, ACRONYM
WORD FORMING PROCCESS COINAGE, BLENDING, ACRONYM
a. Coinage
There are some points of view about the meaning of coinage. Coinage is the word formation
process in which a new word is created either deliberately or accidentally without using the other
word formation processes and often from seemingly nothing. As neologism or coinage, we identify
the word formation process of inventing entirely new words (neology). This is a very rare and
uncommon method to create new words, but in the media, people try to outdo each other with more
and better words to name their products. Often these trademark names are adopted by the masses and
they become ''everyday words of language'' (Yule 2006, 53). Also coinage refers to extension of a
name of a product from a specific reference to a more general one such as Kleenex, Xerox, and
Kodak. And in some cases, the meaning of these words is broadened. Example, complicated
chemical or technical terms (like Aspirin: acetylsalicylic acid) are adopted as the trademark term and
often replace standard terms for e.g. in this example, painkillers. This also happened to words
like Xerox,Kleenex or the German Nutella. Some words are differentiated from 'standard' neologisms,
namely eponyms. Eponyms are words that are ''based on the name of a person or a place'' (Yule
2006, 53). Common eponyms are watt from name of the discoverer, Fahrenheit from name the
expert, jeans takes from Italian city of JENWA, sandwich from a person who makes his meal
between two slices of bread, gold from Italian scientist.
The following list of words provides some common coinages found in everyday English:
Aspirin Escalator Heroin Band-aid
Factoid Frisbee Google Kerosene
Kleenex Laundromat Linoleum Muggle
Nylon Psychedelic Quark Xerox
Zipper
Notice that many coinages start out as brand names for everyday items such as Kleenex for a
facial tissue.
b. Blending
The earliest blends in English only go back to the 19th century, with wordplay coinages by Lewis
Carroll in Jabberwocky. For example, he introduced to the language slithy, formed from lithe and
slimy) and galumph, (from gallop and triumph Interestingly galumph has survived as a word in
English, but it now seems to mean 'walk in a stomping, ungainly way'. Some blends that have been
around for quite a while include brunch (breakfast and lunch),motel (motor hotel), electrocute
(electric and execute), smog (smoke and fog) and cheeseburger (cheese and hamburger).

2. A blending is a combination of two or more words to create a new one, usually by taking the
beginning of the other word and the end of the other one. So new words like spork (spoon +
fork), fanzine (fan + magazine), bromance (brother + romance) or Spanglish (Spanish + English)
are created. There are of course other ways to create a blending: for example, you can take both
beginnings of a word (cybernetic + organism → cyborg) or take a whole word and combine it with a
part of another one (guess + estimate → guesstimate) (Yousefi 2009.The most common type of
blend is a full word followed by a word part (called a splinter) as in motorcade (motor +
cavalcade). Another example of combining words, in this case names, is the bleding of celebrity
couple names, such as Brangelina (Brad + Angelina) or Bennifer(Ben + Jennifer). Sometimes
blendings are referred to as portmanteau words. The termportmanteau was coined by Lewis Carroll
in 1882, when in his book Through the Looking Glass Humpty Dumpty describes a new word he
uses as follows: "Well, 'slithy' means 'lithe and slimy'. […] You see, it's like a portmanteau - there are
two meanings packed into one word" (Carroll 1996, 102 - i.e. there are two different words with
completely unequal meanings put together to form a new word with a new meaning.
Examples and Observations:
motel (motorway hotel) brunch (breakfast lunch fridge (freezer
refrigerator) smog (smoke fog) stagflation (stagnation and
inflation) spork (spoon and fork) carjacking (car and
hijacking) mocktail(mock and cocktail with no alcohol) splog (spam and
blog)
fake blog designed to attract hits and raise Google-ranking' britpoperati(Britpop and literati) 'those
knowledgable about current British pop music'.
{agitprop (agitation + propaganda)} alcopop (alcohol + pop)
bash (bat + mash) biopic (biography + picture
Breathalyzer (breath + analyzer) camcorder (camera + recorder) chexting (cheating +
texting) clash (clap + crash) cosmeceutical (cosmetic + pharmaceutical)
docudrama(documentary+ drama),faction (fact + fiction),electrocute (electricity + execute),fanzine
(fan + magazine), emoticon (emote + icon),flare (flame + glare), flirtationship (flirting +
relationship), glimmer (gleam + shimmer), Globish (global + English), guitarthritis (guitar
+ arthritis), infotainment (information + entertainment), moped (motor + pedal), palimony (pal +
alimony), pornacopia (pornography + cornucopia), pulsar (pulse + quasar), sexcapade (sex +
escapade), sexploitation (sex + exploitation), sitcom (situation + comedy), slanguage (slang +
language). smash (smack + mash), sportscast (sports + broadcast), stagflation (stagnation + inflation),
staycation (stay home + vacation), telegenic (television + photogenic), textpectation (text message +
expectation), workaholic (work + alcoholic).
c. Acronym
In English, acronyms pronounced as words may be a 20th-century phenomenon. Linguist David
Wilton in Word Myths: Debunking Linguistic Urban Legends claims that "forming words from

3. acronyms is a distinctly twentieth- (and now twenty-first-) century phenomenon. There is only one
known pre-twentieth-century [English] word with an acronymic origin and it was in vogue for only a
short time in 1886. The word is colinderies or colinda, an acronym for the Colonial and Indian
Exposition held in London in that year."
The widespread, frequent use of acronyms and initialisms across the whole range of registers is a
relatively new linguistic phenomenon in most languages, becoming increasingly evident since the
mid-20th century. As literacy rates rose, and as advances in science and technology brought with
them a constant stream of new (and sometimes more complex) terms and concepts, the practice of
abbreviating terms became increasingly convenient. The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) records
the first printed use of the word initialism as occurring in 1899, but it did not come into general use
until 1965, well after acronym had become common. By 1943, the term acronym had been used in
English to recognize abbreviations (and contractions of phrases) that were pronounced as words. (It
was formed from the Greek words ἄκρος, akros, "topmost, extreme" and ὄνομα, onoma, "name.")
For example, the army offense of being absent without official leave was abbreviated to "A.W.O.L."
in reports, but when pronounced as a word ('awol'), it became an acronym. While initial letters are
commonly used to form an acronym, the original definition was a word made from the initial letters
or syllables of other words, for example UNIVAC from UNIVersal Automatic Computer.
Acronym is way to form word, it is similar to abbreviation, when each first letter of the source
word is taken and to form new acronym. In English we can find like NASA (national aeronotics and
space administration), VIP (very important person), NATO (north Atlantic treaty organization), etc.
Acronym is forming words from the initials of a group of words that designate one concept. Usually,
but not always, capitalized. An acronym is pronounced as a word if the consonants and vowels line
up in such a way as to make this possible, otherwise, it is pronounced as a string of letter names.
Acronyms and initialisms are abbreviations formed from the initial letter or letters of words, such as
NATO and HTML, and are pronounced in a way that is distinct from the full pronunciation of what
the letters stand for. Of the two words, acronym is the much more frequently used and known, and
many speakers and writers refer to all abbreviations formed from initial letters as acronyms.
However, many others differentiate between acronyms and initialisms. An acronym is a
pronounceable word formed from the initial letter or letters of the constituent words, such as NATO.
An initialism is an abbreviation pronounced as the names of the individual letters, and is formed only
from the initial letter of constituent words, such as TLA. This distinction is supported by many
dictionary definitions, but not by all.
Although the term acronym is widely used to describe any abbreviation formed from initial
letters, some dictionaries define acronym to mean "a word" in its original sense, while some others
include additional senses attributing to acronym the same meaning as that of initialism. The
distinction, when made, hinges on whether the abbreviation is pronounced as a word, or as a string of
letters. According to the first definition found in dictionaries, examples of acronyms are NATO
(/ˈneɪtoʊ/), scuba (/ˈskuːbə/), and radar (/ˈreɪdɑr/), while examples of initialisms are FBI (/ˌɛfˌbiːˈaɪ/)

4. and HTML (/ˌeɪtʃˌtiːˌɛmˈɛl/). There is no agreement on what to call abbreviations whose
pronunciation involves the combination of letter names and words, such as JPEG (/ˈdʒeɪpɛɡ/) and
MS-DOS (/ˌɛmɛsˈdɒs/). There are also some disagreements as abbreviations that some speakers
pronounce as letters and others pronounce as a word. For example, the terms URL and IRA can be
pronounced as individual letters: /ˌjuːˌɑrˈɛl/ and /ˌaɪˌɑrˈeɪ/, respectively; or as a single word: /ˈɜrl/
and /ˈaɪərə/, respectively. Such constructions, however—regardless of how they are pronounced—if
formed from initials, may be identified as initialisms without controversy.
The spelled-out form of an acronym or initialism (that is, what it stands for) is called its expansion.
Comparing a few examples of each types of acronym:
a. Pronounced as a word, containing only initial letters
AIDS: acquired immune deficiency syndrome
NATO: North Atlantic Treaty Organization
Scuba: self-contained underwater breathing apparatus
Laser: Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation
b. Pronounced as a word, containing non-initial letters
Amphetamine: alpha-methyl-phenethylamine
Gestapo: Geheime Staatspolizei (secret state police)
Interpol: International Criminal Police Organization
Nabisco: National Biscuit Company
c. Pronounced as a word, containing a mixture of initial and non-initial letters
Necco: New England Confectionery Company
Radar: radio detection and ranging
d. Pronounced as a word or names of letters, depending on speaker or context
FAQ: ([fæk] or ef-a-cue) frequently asked question
IRA: When used for Individual Retirement Account, can be pronounced as letters (i-ar-a) or as a
word [ˈaɪrə].
SAT(s): ([sæt] or ess-a-tee) (previously) Scholastic Achievement (or Aptitude) Test(s)(US) or
Standard Assessment Test(s) (UK), now claimed not to stand for anything.[11]
SQL: ([siːkwəl] or ess-cue-el) Structured Query Language.
e. Pronounced as a combination of names of letters and a word
CD-ROM: (cee-dee-[rɒm]) Compact Disc read-only memory
IUPAC: (i-u-[pæk]) International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry
JPEG: (jay-[pɛɡ]) Joint Photographic Experts Group
SFMOMA: (ess-ef-[moʊmə]) San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
f. Pronounced only as the names of letters
BBC: British Broadcasting Corporation
OEM: Original Equipment Manufacturer
USA: The United States of America
g. Pronounced as the names of letters but with a shortcut
AAA: (triple A) American Automobile Association; abdominal aortic aneurysm; anti-aircraft
artillery; Asistencia Asesoría Administración
(three As) Amateur Athletic Association
IEEE: (I triple E) Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
NAACP: (N double A C P) National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
NCAA: (N C double A or N C two A or N C A A) National Collegiate Athletic Association
h. Shortcut incorporated into name

5. 3M: (three M) originally Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company
E3: (E three) Electronic Entertainment Exposition
W3C: (W three C) World Wide Web Consortium
C4ISTAR: (C four I star) Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence,
Surveillance, Target Acquisition, and Reconnaissance.
i. Pseudo-acronyms, which consist of a sequence of characters that, when pronounced as intended,
invoke other, longer words with less typing (see also Internet slang)
CQ: cee-cue for "seek you", a code used by radio operators
IOU: i-o-u for "I owe you" (a true acronym would be IOY)
K9: kay-nine for "canine", used to designate police units utilizing dogs
Q8: cue-eight for "Kuwait"
j. Initialisms whose last abbreviated word is often redundantly included anyway
ATM machine: Automated Teller Machine machine
HIV virus: Human Immunodeficiency Virus virus
PIN number: Personal Identification Number number
LCD display: Liquid Crystal Display display.
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The invention of new words
Coinage is the word formation process in which a new
word is created either deliberately or accidentally without
using the other word formation processes and often from
seemingly nothing. For example, the following list of
words provides some common coinages found in everyday
English:
 aspirin
 escalator
 heroin
 band-aid
 factoid
 Frisbee
 Google
 kerosene
 Kleenex
 Laundromat
 linoleum

6.  muggle
 nylon
 psychedelic
 quark
 Xerox
 zipper
An eponym as we will use the term here is an ordinary
common noun derived from a proper noun, the name of a
person or place. Words like quisling, sandwich,
and silhouette are solid eponyms. Some eponymous words
are still capitalized like a proper noun, so those not
capitalized are most clearly eponyms. The important,
defining property is that the word does not refer
exclusively to the person or place named by the proper
noun, as does Marxism or Christian, but is used to refer to
a general category, as do quisling, boycott and fuchsias.
 atlas – Atlas
 boycott – Charles C. Boycott
 cardigan – James Thomas Brudnell, 7th Earl of
Cardigan
 cereal – Ceres
 dunce – John Duns Scotus
 guillotine – Joseph Ignace Guillotin
 jacuzzi – Candido Jacuzzi
 luddite – Ned Ludd
 malapropism – Mrs. Malaprop
 mesmerize – Franz Anton Mesmer
 mirandize – Ernesto A. Miranda
 narcissistic – Narcissus

7.  nicotine – Jean Nicot
 pasteurization – Louis Pasteur
 poinsettia – Noel Roberts Poinsett
 praline – César de Choiseul, Count Plessis–Praslin
 sadistic – Marquis de Sade
 salmonella – Daniel Elmer Salmon
 sandwich – John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich
 volcano – Vulcan
Word Formation: Coinages, Nonce Words, Borrowing, and
Calquing
written by: Heather Marie Kosur • edited by: Tricia Goss • updated: 1/17/2012
Creating new words in English, covers the related word formation processes of coinages, nonce words, borrowing, and calquing.
 Coinages
Coinage is the word formation process in which a new word is created either deliberately or accidentally without using theother
word formation processes and often from seemingly nothing. For example, thefollowing list of words provides some common
coinages found in everyday English:
 aspirin
 escalator
 heroin
 band-aid
 factoid
 Frisbee
 Google
 kerosene
 Kleenex
 Laundromat
 linoleum
 muggle
 nylon
 psychedelic
 quark
 Xerox
 zipper
Notice that many coinages start out as brand names for everyday items such as Kleenex for a facial tissue. Coinages are also
referred to simply as neologisms, theword neologism meaning "new word."
 Nonce Words

8. Nonce words are new words formed through any number of word formation processes with the resulting word meeting a lexical
need that is not expected to recur. Nonce words are created for thenonce, the term for the nonce meaning "for a single occasion."
For example, the follow list of words provides some nonce words with definitions as identified in theOxford English Dictionary.
 cotton-wool– to stuff or close (the ears) with cotton-wool.
 jabberwock – The name of thefabulous monster in Lewis Carroll's poem Jabberwocky. Hence in allusive and extended
uses, especially "incoherent or nonsensical expression." So jabberwocky is invented language, meaningless language,
nonsensical behavior; also nonsensical, meaningless, topsy-turvy.
 touch-me-not-ishness – having a "touch-me-not" character; stand-off-ish.
 twi-thought – an indistinct or vague thought.
 witchcraftical – The practices of a witch or witches; the exercise of supernatural power supposed to bepossessed by persons
in league with the devil or evil spirits. Power or influence like that of a magician; bewitching or fascinating attraction or
charm.
Notethat although most nonce words come in and out of use very quickly, some nonce words catch on and become everyday
words. For example, Lewis Carroll coined the word chortle, a blend of chuckle and snort, for the poemJabberwocky in the
book Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There; unlike most nonce words, however,chortle has gained acceptance
as a legitimate blended word.
 Borrowing
Borrowing is the word formation process in which a word from one language is borrowed directly into another language. For
example, thefollowing common English words are borrowed from foreign languages:
 algebra – Arabic
 bagel – Yiddish
 cherub – Hebrew
 chow mein – Chinese
 fjord – Norwegian
 galore – Irish
 haiku – Japanese
 kielbasa – Polish
 murder – French
 near – Sanskrit
 paprika– Hungarian
 pizza– Italian
 smorgasbord – Swedish
 tamale – Spanish
 yo-yo – Tagalog
Borrowed words are also referred to as loanwords.
Word Formation: Derivation and Back-Formation
written by: Heather Marie Kosur • edited by: Tricia Goss • updated: 1/17/2012
As part of basic word formation learning, the addition and subtraction of prefixes and suffixes are used to create new words. Also
included below are printable downloads of English affixes and English back-formations.
 Processes
Word formation is theprocess of creating new words. The following word formation processes result in thecreation of new
words in English:

9.  Derivation
 Back-formation
 Conversion
 Compounding
 Clipping
 Blending
 Abbreviations
 Acronyms
 Eponyms
 Coinages
 Nonce words
 Borrowing
 Calquing
 Derivation
Derivation is the word formation process in which a derivational affix attaches to the base form of a word to create a new word.
Affixes, which include prefixes and suffixes, are bound morphemes. Morphemes are the smallest linguistic unit of a language
with semantic meaning. Bound morphemes, unlike free morphemes, cannot stand alone but must attach to another morpheme
such as a word. For example, the following two lists provide examples of some common prefixes and suffixes with definitions in
English:
Prefixes
 a- – without, not
 co- – together
 de- – opposite, negative, removal, separation
 dis- –opposite, negative
 en- – cause to be
 ex- – former, previous, from
 in- – negative, not
 non- – absence, not
 re- – again, repeatedly
 un- – negative, not, opposite, reversal
Suffixes
 -able – sense of being
 -er – agent
 -ful – characterized by
 -fy – make, become, cause to be
 -ism – action or practice, stateor condition
 -less – lack of
 -ly – -like
 -ology – study, science
 -ship – condition, character, skill
 -y – characterized by, inclination, condition
Derivation may result in new words of the same grammatical form, e.g., noun to noun, or of different grammatical forms, e.g.,
verb to noun. For example:
Grammatical Form Retaining Derivation
 verb to verb: appear → disappear
 noun to noun: friend → friendship

10.  adjective to adjective: practical → impractical
 Grammatical Form Changing Derivation
 verb to noun: preserve → preservation
 verb to adjective: bore → boring
 noun to verb: code → codify
 noun to adjective: nature → natural
 adjective to noun: ugly → ugliness
 adjective to verb: sweet → sweeten
 adjective to adverb: quick → quickly
Notethat, although both processes involve theaffixation of suffixes, derivation differs from inflection in that inflection results in
the creation of a new form of the same word rather than a new word. For example, the addition of the third person singular -
s inflectional suffix to verbs creates the third person singular form of verbs, e.g., eat and eats, and the addition of the plural -
s inflectional suffix to nouns creates theplural form of nouns, e.g., dog and dogs. Both eats anddogs are new forms of the same
word, eat and dog, rather than new words.
 Back-Formation
Back-formation is the word formation process in which an actual or supposed derivational affix detaches from thebase form of a
word to create a new word. For example, the following list provides examples of some common back-formations in English:
Original – Back-formation
 babysitter – babysit
 donation – donate
 gambler – gamble
 hazy – haze
 moonlighter – moonlight
 obsessive – obsess
 procession – process
 resurrection – resurrect
 sassy – sass
 television – televise
Back-formation is often theresult of an overgeneralization of derivation suffixes. For example, thenoun back-formationentered
the English lexicon first, but the assumption that the -(at)ion on the end of the word is the -ion derivational suffix results in the
creation of theverb back-form. Back-formation, therefore, is the oppositeof derivation.
 For a printable list of more prefixes and suffixes in English, please download English Affixes: Prefixes and Suffixes. For a more
complete list of back-formations in English, please download English Back-Formations Vocabulary List.
Word Formation: Compounding, Clipping, and Blending
written by: Heather Marie Kosur • edited by: Tricia Goss • updated: 10/17/2014
The word formation processes of compounding, clipping, and blending are important concepts when creating words. Also
included for download are vocabulary lists of common English compounds, clipped words, and blends.
 Compounding
Compounding is theword formation process in which two or more lexemes combine into a single new word. Compound words
may be written as one word or as two words joined with a hyphen. For example:
 noun-noun compound: note + book → notebook
 adjective-noun compound: blue + berry → blueberry
 verb-noun compound: work + room → workroom

11.  noun-verb compound: breast + feed → breastfeed
 verb-verb compound: stir + fry → stir-fry
 adjective-verb compound: high + light → highlight
 verb-preposition compound:break + up → breakup
 preposition-verb compound:out + run → outrun
 adjective-adjective compound: bitter + sweet → bittersweet
 preposition-preposition compound:in + to → into
Compounds may be compositional, meaning that the meaning of the new word is determined by combining the meanings of the
parts, or noncompositional, meaning that themeaning of thenew word cannot be determined by combining themeanings of the
parts. For example, a blueberry is a berry that is blue. However, a breakup is not a relationship that was severed into pieces in an
upward direction.
Compound nouns should not be confused with nouns modified by adjectives, verbs, and other nouns. For example, the
adjective black of the noun phrase black bird is different from the adjective black of the compound noun blackbird in
thatblack of black bird functions as a noun phrasemodifier while the black of blackbird is an inseparable part of thenoun: a
black bird also refers to any bird that is black in color while a blackbird is a specific typeof bird.
 Clipping
Clipping is the word formation process in which a word is reduced or shortened without changing themeaning of theword.
Clipping differs from back-formation in that the new word retains the meaning of the original word. For example:
 advertisement – ad
 alligator – gator
 examination – exam
 gasoline – gas
 gymnasium – gym
 influenza – flu
 laboratory – lab
 mathematics – math
 memorandum – memo
 photograph – photo
 public house – pub
 raccoon – coon
 reputation – rep
 situation comedy – sitcom
 telephone – phone
The four types of clippingare back clipping, fore-clipping, middle clipping, and complex clipping. Back clipping is removing the
end of a word as in gas from gasoline. Fore-clipping is removing thebeginning of a word as in gator fromalligator. Middle
clipping is retaining only the middle of a word as in flu from influenza. Complex clipping is removing multiple parts from
multiple words as in sitcom from situation comedy.
 Blending
Blending is the word formation process in which parts of two or more words combine to create a new word whose meaning is
often a combination of the original words. For example:
 advertisement + entertainment → advertainment
 biographical + picture→ biopic
 breakfast + lunch → brunch
 chuckle + snort → chortle
 cybernetic + organism → cyborg

12.  guess + estimate → guesstimate
 hazardous + material → hazmat
 motor + hotel → motel
 prim + sissy → prissy
 simultaneous + broadcast → simulcast
 smoke + fog → smog
 Spanish + English → Spanglish
 spoon + fork → spork
 telephone + marathon → telethon
 web + seminar → webinar
Blended words are also referred to as portmanteaus.
Word Formation: Abbreviations, Acronyms, and Eponyms
written by: Heather Marie Kosur • edited by: Tricia Goss • updated: 1/17/2012
In order to understand word formation fully, the processes of abbreviation, acronym, and eponymneed to be included. Also
linked to in this article are downloadable vocabulary lists of common English abbreviations, acronyms, and eponyms.
 Abbreviations
Abbreviation is the word formation process in which a word or phraseis shortened. Initialisms are a typeof abbreviation formed
by the initial letters of a word or phrase. Although abbreviation is largely a convention of written language, sometimes
abbreviations carry over into spoken language. For example:
Written Abbreviations
 Apr. – April
 cm – centimeter(s)
 d. – died, died in
 dept. – department
 Dr. – doctor
 Jr. – Junior
 Mr. – Mister
 oz – ounce(s)
 Sun. – Sunday
 yd – yard(s)
Spoken-Written Abbreviations
 A.M. – ante meridiem [in themorning]
 B.C.E. – Before Common Era
 GOP – Grand Old Party (Republican Party)
 HIV – Human Immunodeficiency Virus
 i.e. – id est [that is]
 JFK – John Fitzgerald Kennedy
 OJ – orange juice
 PMS– premenstrual syndrome
 RSVP – répondez s'il vous plait
 VIP – very important person
Abbreviation is related to both theword formation processes of clipping and blending.

13.  Acronyms
Acronyms are words formed by theword formation process in which an initialism is pronounced as a word. For example,HIV is
an initialism for Human Immunodeficiency Virus that is spoken as the three letters H-I-V. However, AIDS is an acronym for
Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome that is spoken as theword aids. Other examples of acronyms in English include:
 ASAP – as soon as possible
 AWOL – absent without leave
 laser - light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation
 NASA – National Aeronautics and Space Administration
 NASDAQ - National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations
 PIN – personal identification number
 radar - radio detection and ranging
 scuba - self-contained underwater breathing apparatus
 TESOL – Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages
 WASP – White Anglo-Saxon Protestant
Acronyms are related to theword formation process of abbreviation.
Word Formation: Conversion
written by: Heather Marie Kosur • edited by: Rebecca Scudder • updated: 12/10/2013
Part two of "Word Formation: Creating New Words in English" covers the process of conversion, which is the word formation
process whereby a word of one part of speech converts into a word of another part of speech, e.g., the noun Google changing into
the verb to google.
 Conversion
Conversion is the word formation process in which a word of one grammatical form becomes a word of another grammatical
form without any changes to spelling or pronunciation. For example, the nounemail appeared in English before theverb: a decade
ago I would have sent you an email (noun) whereas now I can either send you an email (noun) or simply email (verb) you. The
original noun email experienced conversion, thus resulting in the new verb email. Conversion is also referred to as zero
derivation or null derivation with the assumption that theformal change between words results in the addition of an invisible
morpheme. However, many linguistics argue for a clear distinction between the word formation processes of derivation and
conversion.
 Noun to Verb Conversion
The most productiveform of conversion in English is noun to verb conversion. Thefollowing list provides examples of verbs
converted from nouns:
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 Noun – Verb
 access – to access
 bottle– to bottle
 can – to can

14.  closet – to closet
 email – to email
 eye – to eye
 fiddle – to fiddle
 fool – to fool
 Google – to google
 host – to host
 knife – to knife
 microwave – to microwave
 name – to name
 pocket – to pocket
 salt – to salt
 shape– to shape
 ship – to ship
 spear – to spear
 torch – to torch
 verb – to verb
For example:
 My grandmother bottled (verb) thejuice and canned (verb) the pickles.
 My grandmother put thejuice in a bottle(noun) and thepickles in a can (noun).
 She microwaved (verb) her lunch.
 She heated her lunch in themicrowave (noun).
 The doctor eyed (verb) my swollen eye (noun).
Noun to verb conversion is also referred to as verbification or verbing, as humorously discussed by Calvin and Hobbes.
 Verb to Noun Conversion
Another productive form of conversion in English is verb to noun conversion. The following list provides examples of nouns
converted from verbs:
 Verb – Noun
 to alert – alert
 to attack – attack
 to call – call
 to clone – clone
 to command – command
 to cover – cover
 to cry – cry
 to experience – experience
 to fear – fear
 to feel – feel
 to hope – hope
 to increase – increase
 to judge – judge
 to laugh – laugh
 to rise – rise
 to run – run
 to sleep – sleep
 to start – start

15.  to turn – turn
 to visit – visit
For example:
 The guard alerted (verb) the general to the attack (noun).
 The enemy attacked (verb) before an alert (noun) could be sounded.
 Sometimes one just needs a good cry (noun).
 The baby cried (verb) all night.
 We need to increase (verb) our productivity to see an increase (noun) in profits.
Verb to noun conversion is also referred to as nominalization.
 Other Conversions
Conversion also occurs, although less frequently, to and from other grammatical forms. For example:
 adjective to verb: green → to green (to make environmentally friendly)
 preposition to noun: up, down → the ups and downs of life
 conjunction to noun: if, and, but → no ifs, ands, or buts
 interjection to noun: ho ho ho → I love the ho ho hos of Christmastime.
Morphemes
by Kirsten Mills
Student, University of North Carolina at Pembroke, 1998
Introduction
Morphemes are what make up words. Often, morphemes are thought of as words but
that is not always true. Some single morphemes are words while other words have
two or more morphemes within them. Morphemes are also thought of as syllables but
this is incorrect. Many words have two or more syllables but only one
morpheme. Banana, apple, papaya, and nanny are just a few examples. On the other
hand, many words have two morphemes and only one syllable; examples include cats,
runs, and barked.
Definitions
 morpheme: a combination of sounds that have a meaning. A morpheme does
not necessarily have to be a word. Example: the word cats has two
morphemes. Cat is a morpheme, and s is a morpheme. Every morpheme is
either a base or an affix. An affix can be either a prefix or a suffix. Cat is the
base morpheme, and s is a suffix.

16.  affix: a morpheme that comes at the beginning (prefix) or the ending (suffix) of
a base morpheme. Note: An affix usually is a morpheme that cannot stand
alone. Examples: -ful, -ly, -ity, -ness. A few exceptions are able, like, and less.
 base: a morpheme that gives a word its meaning. The base
morpheme cat gives the word cats its meaning: a particular type of animal.
 prefix: an affix that comes before a base morpheme. The in in the
word inspect is a prefix.
 suffix: an affix that comes after a base morpheme. The s in cats is a suffix.
 free morpheme: a morpheme that can stand alone as a word without another
morpheme. It does not need anything attached to it to make a word. Cat is a
free morpheme.
 bound morpheme: a sound or a combination of sounds that cannot stand alone
as a word. The s in cats is a bound morpheme, and it does not have any
meaning without the free morpheme cat.
 inflectional morpheme: this morpheme can only be a suffix. The s in cats is
an inflectional morpheme. An inflectional morpheme creates a change in the
function of the word. Example: the d ininvited indicates past tense. English has
only seven inflectional morphemes: -s (plural) and -s (possessive) are noun
inflections; -s ( 3rd-person singular), -ed ( past tense), -en (past participle),
and -ing ( present participle) are verb inflections; -er (comparative) and -
est (superlative) are adjective and adverb inflections.
 derivational morpheme: this type of morpheme changes the meaning of the
word or the part of speech or both. Derivational morphemes often create new
words. Example: the prefix and derivational morpheme un added
to invited changes the meaning of the word.
 allomorphs: different phonetic forms or variations of a morpheme. Example:
The final morphemes in the following words are pronounced differently, but
they all indicate plurality: dogs, cats, andhorses.
 homonyms: morphemes that are spelled the same but have different
meanings. Examples: bear (an animal) and bear (to carry), plain (simple)
and plain ( a level area of land).
 homophones:morphemes that sound alike but have different meanings and
spellings. Examples: bear, bare; plain, plane; cite, sight, site.
Fifteen Common Prefixes
The following tables and tip are adopted from Grammar and Composition by
Mary Beth Bauer, et al.
Prefix Meaning
ad- to, toward

17. circum- around, about
com- with, together
de- away from, off
dis- away, apart
ex- from, out
in- not
in- in, into
inter- between
mis- wrong
post- after
re- back, again
sub- beneath, under
trans- across
un- not
Ten Common Suffixes
Suffix Meaning
-able (-ible) capable of being
-ance (-ence) the act of
-ate making or applying
-ful full of
-ity the state of being
-less without
-ly in a certain way
-ment the result of being
-ness the state of being
-tion (-ion, -sion) the act of or the state of being
Tip
Suffixes can also be used to tell the part of speech of a word. The following
examples show the parts of speech indicated by the suffixes in the chart.
Nouns: -ance, -ful, -ity, -ment, -ness, -tion
Verb: -ate
Adjectives: -able, -ful, -less, -ly

18. Adverb: -ly
Exercises
Identify and label the parts of the following words as: bound or free,
derivational or inflectional, and base or affix. Indicate the number of
morphemes in each word.
1. dogs
2. replay
3. carrot
4. inescapable
5. television
6. tenacity
7. captivate
8. unlikely
Identify at least 10 sets of homophones and give the different meanings.
Example: board (a flat piece of wood) and bored (uninterested, weary).
words base affix inflectional derivational bound free morphemes
dogs dog -s + -s dog 2
replay play re- + re- play 2
carrot carrot carrot 1
inescapable cap in-,es-,-able + in-,es-,cap -able 4
television vis tele-,-ion + tele-,vis,-ion 3
tenacity tenac -ity + tenac,-ity 2
captivate cap -tiv,-ate + cap,-tiv,-ate 3
unlikely likely un- + un- likely 2
The answers for homophones will vary. Some examples are:
buy (to purchase)
by (near)
forth (forward)
fourth (referring to the number four)

19. heard (past tense for hear)
herd (a group of animals)
lessen (to make less)
lesson (something learned)
pair (set of two)
pare (to trim)
pear (a fruit)
right (proper or just; correct; opposite of left)
rite (a ritual)
write (to put words on paper)
to (toward)
too (also, excessively)
two (one more than one in number)
waist (midsection)
waste (to squander; something that is discarded)
week (seven days)
weak (feeble, not strong)
your (possessive of you)
you're (contraction of you are)
INFLECTIONAL VS. DERIVATIONAL MORPHOLOGY
Another important and perhaps universal distinction is the one
between derivational and inflectional morphemes.
Derivational morphemes makes new words from old ones (Crystal, p. 90.)
Thus creation is formed from create , but they are two separate words.
Derivational morphemes generally:
1) Change the part of speech or the basic meaning of a word. Thus -ment added to a
verb forms a noun (judg-ment). re-activate means "activate again."
2) Are not required by syntactic relations outside the word. Thus un-
kind combines un- and kind into a single new word, but has no particular syntactic

20. connections outside the word -- we can say he is unkind or he is kind or they are
unkind or they are kind, depending on what we mean.
3) Are often not productive -- derivational morphemes can be selective about what
they'll combine with, and may also have erratic effects on meaning. Thus the suffix -
hood occurs with just a few nouns such as brother, neighbor, and knight, but not with
most others. e.g., *friendhood, *daughterhood, or *candlehood. Furthermore
"brotherhood" can mean "the state or relationship of being brothers," but
"neighborhood" cannot mean "the state or relationship of being neighbors."
4) Typically occur between the stem and any inflectional affixes. Thus
in governments,-ment, a derivational suffix, precedes -s, an inflectional suffix.
5) In English, may appear either as prefixes or suffixes: pre-arrange, arrange-ment.
Inflectional morphemes: vary (or "inflect") the form of words in order to express
grammatical features, such as singular/plural or past/present
tense. Thus Boy and boys, for example, are two different forms of the "same" word;
the choice between them, singular vs. plural, is a matter of grammar and thus the
business of inflectional morphology. (Crystal, p. 90.)
Inflectional Morphemes generally:
1) Do not change basic meaning or part of speech, e.g., big, bigg-er, bigg-est are all
adjectives.
2) Express grammatically-required features or indicate relations between different
words in the sentence. Thus in Lee love-s Kim: -s marks the 3rd person singular
present form of the verb, and also relates it to the 3rd singular subject Lee.
3) Are productive. Inflectional morphemes typically combine freely with all members
of some large class of morphemes, with predictable effects on usage/meaning. Thus
the plural morpheme can be combined with nearly any noun, usually in the same
form, and usually with the same effect on meaning.
4) Occur outside any derivational morphemes. Thus in ration-al-iz-ation-s the final -
s is inflectional, and appears at the very end of the word, outside the derivational
morphemes -al, -iz, -ation.
5) In English, are suffixes only.
Some English morphemes, by category:

21. derivational inflectional
-ation -s Plural
-al -s Possessive
-ize -ed Past
-ic -ing Progressive
-y -er Comparative
-ous -est Superlative
HOW TO DESCRIBE AN AFFIX:
some examples from DERIVATIONAL morphology:
-ation
is added to a verb or root (finalize, anim-)
to give a noun (finalization, animation)
un-
is added to a verb (tie)
to give a verb(untie)
un-
is added to an adjective (happy)
to give an adjective (unhappy)
-al
is added to a noun (institution)
to give an adjective (institutional)
-ize
is added to an adjective (concrete)
to give a verb (concretize)
What is the meaning of the affix?

22. The meanings of derivational affixes are sometimes clear, but often less clear because
of changes that occur over time. The following two sets of examples show that the
prefix un- is easily interpreted as a negative, but the prefix con- is more opaque.
un- untie
undo
unhappy
untimely
unthinkable
unmentionable
con- constitution
confess
connect
contract
contend
conspire
complete
Are derivational affixes sensitive to the historical source of the roots they attach
to?
Although English is a Germanic language, and most of its basic vocabulary derives
from Old English, there is also a sizeable vocabulary that derives from Romance
(Latin and French). Some English affixes, such as re-, attach freely to vocabulary
from both sources.
ROOT tie consider
free form free form
Germanic root Latinate root
SOURCE Old English tygan, "to tie" Latin considerare, "to examine"
PREFIX retie reconsider
SUFFIX reties reconsiders
retying reconsideration

23. retyings reconsiderations
The suffix -ize, objected to by Edwin Newman in words like hospitalize, has a long
and venerable history. Many of you chose to look up -ize words as part of your first
assignment.
According to Hans Marchand, who wrote a book entitled The Categories and Types of
Present-Day English Word Formation, (University of Alabama Press, 1969), the
suffix -izecomes originally from the Greek -izo. Many words ending with this suffix
passed from Ecclesiastical Greek into Latin, where, by the fourth century, they had
become established as verbs with the ending -izare, such as barbarizare, catechizare,
christianizare. In Old French we find many such verbs, belonging primarily to the
ecclesistical sphere: baptiser (11th c.),canoniser (13th c.), exorciser (14th c.).
The first -ize words to be found in English are loans with both a French and Latin
pattern such as baptize (1297), catechize, and organize (both 15th c.) Towards the end
of the 16th century, however, we come across many new formations in English, such
as bastardize, equalize, popularize, and womanize. The formal and semantic patterns
were the same as those from the borrowed French and Latin forms, but owing to the
renewed study of Greek, the educated had become more familiar with its vocabulary
and used the patterns of Old Greek word formation freely.
Between 1580 and 1700, the disciplines of literature, medicine, natural science and
theology introduced a great deal of new terminology into the language. Some of the
terms still in use today include criticize,fertilize,humanize, naturalize, satirize,
sterilize, and symbolize. The growth of science contributed vast numbers of -
ize formations through the 19th century and into the 20th.
The -ize words collected by students in last year's course show that -ize is almost
entirely restricted to Romance vocabulary, the only exceptions we found
being womanize andwinterize. Even though most contemporary English speakers are
not aware of which words in their vocabulary are from which source, apparently, in
coining new words, they have respected this distinction.

25. a. LASER Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation
b. AIDS Acquired ImmuneDeficiency Syndrome
c. UNESCO United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organization
d. NASA National Aeronauticsand SpaceAdministration
e. NATO North Atlantic Treaty Organization
f. NIPA National Instituteof Pension Administrators
g. NAM Non-Allied Movement
h. NUML National University of Modern Languages
i. CIDA Canadian International Development Agency
j. LUMS LahoreUniversity of Management and Sciences.
Morphological Processes
'Morphology is the study of the rules governing the formation of words.'
Morphological processes can be by affixation or other words formation. Affixation can be
inflection or derivation while other words formation can be compound, reduplication, suppletion,
internal chage, clipping, conversion.
A. AFFIXATION
Affixation is the process in which free morphome (root) is added with bound morphemes
(affixes). There are two kinds of affixation, they are inflection and derivation.
I. INFLECTION
Inflection is word formation process that changes the morphological form of a word to fit a
syntactic context.
Example:
- walk vs. walked
- cat vs. cats
There are some characteristics of inflection:
 inflection does not change the grammatical category of the base;
 inflection does not affect the meaning of the word;
 inflectional processes take place after derivational ones;
Example
neighborhoods vs. *neighborshood

26.  inflectional affixes have few exceptions (they are almost fully productive), while
derivational affixes usually attach to a limited class of words;
 English inflectional affixes are all suffixes.
Example
- plural -s: cat - cats
- possessive/genitive ’s: John’s
- 3rd person sg. non-past -s: sing-sings
- progressive -ing: sing-singing
- past tense -ed: talk-talked
- past participle -en/-ed: eat-eaten/study-studied
- comparative -er: happy-happier
- superlative -est: happy-happiest
There are two types of inflection. They are:
 regular inflection = rule-based; walk-walked
 irregular inflection = stored in the lexicon; come-came;goose-geese
 Evidence for distinction
- for irregular verbs, response time is linked to the frequency of the verb
- for regular verb, no such difference is found since the past tense is formed by a regular
rule
II. DERIVATION
Derivational affixes are affixes (suffixes) which change the meaning of the base in some
important ways, or change it into a different word class. They turn nouns into adjectives,
adjectives into verbs, nouns of one type into nouns to the other type, and so on. They add new
meanings to the base. They are readily followed by inflectional suffixes, and in many cases more
than one derivational suffix can be found in the some word.
For instance, let us start with the verb Establish in its rather specialized meaning of ‘grant special
state privileges to a church’. We can derive the verb disestablish, meaning ‘take away special
privileges’. Then we can form the noun disestablishment meaning ‘the act of taking away

27. privileges’, then the noun disestablishmentarian meaning ‘one who advocates disestablishment’,
then the noun disestablishmentarianism meaning ‘the doctrine of disestablishment’, and finally
antidisestablishmentarianism, meaning ‘opposite to the disestablishing the church. The latter
word is often cited as ‘the longest word in English Language’ Brockman (1971: 8)
Some derivational affixes of English
AFFIX
Class(es) of word to which affix
applies
Nature of
change in
meaning
Examples
Prefix 'non-' Noun, adjective
Negation/opposi
te
Noun: non-
starter
Adj.: non-
partisan
Suffix '-ity' Adjective Changes to noun
electric/electr
icity o
bese/ob
esity
Prefix 'un-'
Verb
Adjective
Reverses action
opposite
quality
tie/untie,
fasten/unfast
en
clear/unclear,
safe/unsafe
Suffix '-ous' Noun
Changes to
adjective
fame/famous,
glamor/glam
orous
Prefix 're-' Verb Repeat action
tie/retie,
write/rewrite

28. Suffix '-able' Verb
Changes to
adjective;
means 'can
undergo
action of
verb'
print/printabl
e,
drink/drinka
ble
Derivational Suffixes
Abstract noun
makers
Concrete noun makers Nouns from
verbs
Nouns from adjectives
-age = frontage - eer= engineer -age = wastage -ity = falsity
-dom = kingdom - er = teenager - al =
refusal
-ness = kindness
-ery = slavery - ess = waitress - ant =
informa
nt
Adjective-noun makers
-ful = spoonful - let = booklet -ation =
education
-ese = Chinese
-hood =
brotherhood
- ling = duckling -ee =
commitee
-an = republican
- ing =
farming
- ster = gangster -er = writer -ist= socialist
- ism =
idealism
-ing = clothing -ite = Luddite
- ocracy =
aristocrac
y
-ment =
equipment
- ship =
friendship
-or = actor

29. Adverb-makers Verb makers Adjectives from
nouns
Adjectives from
verbs
-ly=quickly -ate= orchestrate -ed= pointed -able= drinkable
-ward(s)= onwards -en= ripen -esque= burlesque -ive= attractive
-wise= clockwise -ify= certify -ful= successful
-ize/ise= advertise -(i)al= accidental
-ic= atomic
-ish= foolish
-less= careless
-ly= friendly
-ous= ambitious
-y= hairy
Noun Suffixes
ROOT SUFFIX WORD
EMPLOY
AGREE
- Ment EMPLOY-MENT
AGREE- MENT
DISCUSS
PRODUCE
PERMIT
- ion, tion, sion DISCUSS-ION
PRODUC-TION
PERMI-S-SION
INVITE
OPPOSE
- ation, - ition INVIT – ATION
OPPOS – ITION
PREFER -ence, - ance PREFER- ENCE

30. DISTANT DISTAN- CE
CERTAIN
SECURE
- ty, - ity CERTAIN-TY
SECUR- ITY
SAD
ILL
- Ness SAD-NESS
ILL-NESS
BUILD
UNDERSTAND
- Ing BUILD-ING
UNDERSTAND-ING
Nouns for People
SUFFIX ROOT WORD
- er, -or, - ress Drive
Edit
Wait
DRIV-ER
EDIT-OR
WAIT-RESS
- ist Tour
Science
TOUR-IST
SCIENT-IST
- ant , - ent Assist
Study
ASSIST-ANT
STUD-ENT
-an, - ian Republic
Electric
REPUBLIC-AN
ELECTRIC-IAN
- ee Employ
Examine
Address
EMPLOY-EE
EXAMIN-EE
ADDRESS-EE
Forming Adjectives
- y added to the names of
common substances, objects
and things that are
experienced
Rock = ROCKY
(full of rocks, like rocks)
Noise = NOISY
( producing noise)

31. - ly Added to time words and to
certain family/personal
words
Day = DAILY
Week= WEEKLY
Man = MANLY
- ful Added when it indicates in a
positive way the presence of
a quality or ability
Use = USEFUL
Skill = SKILFUL
- less Negatively suggests the
absence of a quality or ability
Use = USELESS
Meaning = MEANINGLESS
- al Added to certain nouns of
Latin origin ending in – ion,
-ic(s) and -ure
Addition = ADDITIONAL
Music = MUSICAL
Ethics = ETHICAL
Nature = NATURAL
Words can often be divided into morphemes. Words can have prefixes, infixes, suffixes, show
inflectional or derivational morphology, and much more...
'Morphology is the study of the rules governing the formation of words.'
B. OTHER WORD FORMATION
1-Compounding
A compound word contains at least two bases which are both words ,or at any rate , root
morphemes.
examples :-
n+n))(Tea) +( pot ) => teapot
Hair) + (dress) + er => hairdresser(n+v)
Blue) + (bird) => bluebird (a+n)

32. Over) + (lord) => overlord (pre+n)
2-Conversion
Conversion is a process that assigns an already existing word to a new syntactic category.
Examples :-
=>V derived from n
e.g button (the shirt)
=>N derived from v
(a long) walk
=>V derived from A
Open (a door)
3-Clipping
Clipping is a process that shortens a polysyllabic word by deleting one or more syllables. It is
especially popular among students.
Examples:-
Prof => for professor
Poli – sci => for political science
Zoo for => zoological garden
4-Blends
Blends are words that created from non-morhpemic parts of two already existing items.
A blend is usually formed from the first part of one word and the the final part of the second one.

33. Examples:-
brunch =>from breakfast and lunch
Smog => from smoke and fog.
Spam => from spiced and ham.
5-Internal change
Internal change is a process that substitutes' one non-morphemic segment for another .
Examples:-
sing(present) =>sang(past)
Sink(present) =>sank(past)
Foot (singular) => feet(plural)
Goose(singular) => geese(plural)
6-Suppletion
Suppletion is a morphological process whereby a root morpheme is replaced by a phonologically
unrelated form in order to indicate a grammatical contrast.
Examples:-
have => had
Go => went
good=> better
7. Acronym
They are formed from the initial letters of a set of other words.
They are usually pronounced as single words (e.g. NATO, PIN, etc.) Or as a set of letters (e.g.
CD, VIP, etc.)

34. 8. Back Formation
A word of one type (usually a noun) is reduced to a word of a different type (usually a verb)
through widespread use.
• to donate from donation
• to opt from option
• Other examples: pronunciate (< pronunciation), resurrect (< resurrection),
enthuse (< enthusiasm),
9. Borrowing
Taking over words from other languages.
• Examples from Italian
• pasta
• piano
10. Coinage
Coinage is the invention of totally new terms. Often a brand name becomes the name for the
item or process associated with the brand name
• Examples:
– hoover
– Kleenex
– Xerox
– Kodak