DR.

RICELI CANO-MENDOZA
University of SOUTHERN Mindanao
PHILIPPINES
1
 MORPHOLOGY is the study of the building
blocks of meaning in language; study of
how words are structured and how they are
put together from smaller parts
 It means the structure of words which
involved word formation.
 Functions:1. creation of new words (new
lexemes)
2. Spelling out the appropriate form of a
lexeme in a particular syntactic context
Why is there a need for new words?
 Language users need new expressions for
new objects or for new concepts.

2
 Basic to the word structure is the
MORPHEME, the smallest individually
meaningful units in the utterances of a
language; the smallest linguistic unit
that has a meaning or grammatical
function.

3
 Allomorphs: are variants of realizing a
morpheme. For example, the English plural
morpheme can appear as [s] as in cats, [z]
as in dogs, or [iz] as in churches. Each
of these three pronunciations is said to
be an allomorph of the same morpheme

-s (plural morpheme)

cats /s/ dogs /z/ churches /iz/

4
 Morph: The smallest segment of the
phonological/orthographic into which it is
divided in an analysis of morphemes.
 The actual form used to realize morphemes.
 E.g. cats has 2 morphemes: cat realizes a
lexical morpheme while s realizes an
inflectional morpheme
 An empty morph does not directly realize a
morpheme. E.g. in «children», r is an
empty morph whereas the morph child
realizes the morpheme {child}, and a morph
{en} may be said to realize the plural
morpheme {s} (as also in oxen).
 A zero morph is the invisible realization
of a morpheme. E.g. in three sheep the
noun's plural morpheme {s} is realized by
a zero morph: «sheep» = sheep·ø
5
MORPHEMES are word parts that carry
meaning (meaningful elements in a word)
 Most morphemes have lexical meaning
(LEXIXAL MORPHEME). E.g. look, cat
 Others represent a grammatical category or
semantic notion (GRAMMATICAL
MORPHEME). E.g. past tense(-ed in
looked), plural (-s in cats)
 Do not equate one morpheme with one
syllable. Eg. harvest(2 syllables but 1
morpheme)
6
 A single syllable can represent more than
one morpheme: kissed (1 syllable but 2
morphemes: kiss+past tense); dogs ( 1
syllable but 2 morphemes: dog+plural);
feet (1 syllable but 2 morphemes:
foot+plural); men’s ( 1 syllable but 3
morphemes: man+plural+possessive)
 Morphemes can be free or bound
1. FREE MORPHEMES- can stand alone
2. BOUND MORPHEMES- cannot stand
alone
7
 Morphemes that derive other words
 Bound morphemes change the category of the word to
which they are attached. E.g. doubt- doubtful ; dark-
darken
 DERIVATIONAL MORPHEMES in English tend to be
added to the ends of words (SUFFIXES). Morphemes
added at the beginning are PREFIXES.
 English prefixes typically change the meaning of a word
but do not alter its lexical category. E.g. mis+verb: spell-
misspell, un+adjective: true-untrue, ex+noun: husband-ex-
husband.
 Not every word belonging to lexical category can undergo
a given derivational process. E.g. doubt and beauty can take
the suffix ful but rust and book cannot.

8
 are often not productive or regular in form or meaning --
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." Note however
that some derivational affixes are quite regular in form
and meaning, e.g. -ism.

9
10
HOW TO DERIVE NEW
WORDS
(MORPHOLOGICAL
PROCESSES /WORD
FORMATION/WORD
BUILDING)
11
 Word formation
1. concatenative word formation
 derivation (combining a bound
morpheme with a free morpheme)
 compounding (combining free
morphemes)
2. non-concatenative word formation
 conversion (to verb words)
 • clipping (Bus, Auto, Uni)
 • blending (brunch, smog)

12
1. AFFIXATION
 Adding morphemes to an existing word is a common way
of creating new words.
 Combination of bound affixes and free morphemes are
the result of the process of affixation.
 Affixation according to bound morphemes:
1. Derivational morphemes- are affixes attached to nouns,
verbs, adjectives and adverbs and change them to
another lexical category. In English, derivational
morphemes are prefixes and suffixes.
2. Inflectional morphemes- are affixes attached to nouns,
adjectives, and verbs changing their number, degree of
comparison and tense but not the lexical category. In
English, inflectional morphemes are suffixes.

13
 Derivation is used to form new words,
as with happi-ness and un-happy from
happy, or determination from
determine. A contrast is intended
with the process of inflection, which
uses another kind of affix in order
to form variants of the same word, as
with determine/determine-s/determin-
ing/determin-ed.
 A derivational suffix usually applies
to words of one syntactic category
and changes them into words

14
of another syntactic category. For example,
the English derivational suffix -ly changes
adjectives into adverbs (slow → slowly).
 Some examples of English derivational
suffixes:
1. adjective-to-noun: -ness (slow → slowness)
2. adjective-to-verb: -ize (modern →
modernize)
3. noun-to-adjective: -al (recreation →
recreational)
4. noun-to-verb: -fy (glory → glorify)
5. verb-to-adjective: -able (drink →
drinkable)
6. verb-to-noun: -ance (deliver → deliverance)
15
 Although derivational affixes do not
necessarily modify the
syntactic category, they modify the
meaning of the base. In many cases,
derivational affixes change both the
syntactic category and the meaning:
modern → modernize ("to make
modern").
 The modification of meaning is
sometimes predictable: Adjective +
ness → the state of being
(Adjective); (stupid→ stupidness).
 A prefix (write → re-write; lord →
over-lord) will rarely change
syntactic category in English. The
derivational prefix un- applies to
adjectives (healthy → unhealthy),
some verbs (do → undo), but rarely 16

nouns.
 A few exceptions are the prefixes en- and
be-. En- (em- before labials) is usually used
as a transitive marker on verbs, but can also
be applied to adjectives and nouns to form
transitive verb: circle (verb) → encircle
(verb); but rich (adj) → enrich (verb), large
(adj) → enlarge (verb), rapture (noun) →
enrapture (verb), slave (noun) → enslave
(verb).
 The prefix be-, though not as productive as
it once was in English, can function in a
similar way to en- to mark transitivity, but
can also be attached to nouns, often in a
causative or privative sense: siege (noun) →
besiege (verb), jewel (noun) → bejewel
(verb), head (noun) → behead (verb).

17
 Note that derivational affixes are
bound morphemes. It differs from
inflection in that inflection does
not change a word's syntactic
category and creates not new
lexemes but new word forms (table
→ tables; open → opened).
 Derivation may occur without any
change of form, for example
telephone (noun) and to telephone.
This is known as conversion.

18
 AFFIXES
1. Prefixes- attach to the front of the stem
2. Suffixes-always follow the stem they attach to
3. Infix- a morpheme inserted within another morpheme
4. Circumfix-a morpheme that occurs in two parts
5. Reduplicative affix-duplicates all or part of a stem
6. INTERWEAVING MORPHEMES- Arabic and
Hebrew can have interweaving morphemes. E.g.
Arabic nouns and verbs generally have a root
consisting of 3 consonants: KTB. The Arabic word for
book is kitaab. By interweaving K-T-B and various
other morphemes, Arabic creates many nouns, verbs
and adjectives from this single root.

19
 Derivational Morphology in Arabic
kitaaba ‘writing’ kataba ‘he wrote’

kaatib ‘writer’ kaataba ‘he corresponded

with’

maktab ‘office’ ?aktaba ‘he dictated’

maktaba ‘library’ ?iktataba ‘he was

registered’
maktuub ‘letter’ takaataba ‘he exchanged
letters with’
miktaab ‘typewriter’ inkataba ‘he subscribed’

kutubii ‘bookseller’ iktataba ‘he had a copy

made’ 20
 Incidentally, the words MUSLIM, ISLAM and SALAAM
all contain the Arabic root SLM, with its core meaning of
‘peace, submission.’

21
 The suffix -gate derives from the Watergate scandal of the
United States in the early 1970s, which resulted in the
resignation of U.S. President Richard Nixon.
 The word Watergate is derived from the Watergate Complex,
where the scandal started. On June 17, 1972, agents of the
Nixon White House and the Nixon reelection campaign were
arrested while breaking into the office of the
Democratic National Committee, which at the time was located in
the Watergate Complex (a combination of residences and
offices located near the Potomac River) in Washington, D.C.
 Over the course of the next two years, the scandal grew from
what initially appeared to be a relatively small and
inconsequential event to become one of the biggest political
controversies in U.S. history.
 Corngate — A political scandal in New Zealand in 2002, which
involved the suspected release of genetically modified corn seed
in 2000.

22
 Monicagate, Lewinskygate, Tailgate, or Sexgate
("Zippergate", "the Lewinsky scandal") — named after
Monica Lewinsky who had an "inappropriate relationship"
with the then-U.S. President Bill Clinton.
 Tunagate — A 1985 political scandal in Canada involving
large quantities of possibly spoiled tuna which were sold to
the public.
 Wardrobegate — The controversy that surrounded the
wardrobe expenditures (allegedly $150,000) for Sarah Palin
and her family during the 2008 Presidential race.

23
 English has added the agentive suffix –er to
the preposition up and down to create
nouns upper and downer.
 Three recently productive prefixes:
cyber ,bio and nano
 Suffixes are widely exploited in the
languages of the world.

24
 nano-means extremely small
1. nanoanalysis-(n)analyis of atomic structures
2. nanobacteria(n)very small bacteria
3. nanobot(n)microscopic robot
4. nanocrystal(n)minute crystal
5. nanofossil(n)a very small fossil, esp.nanoplankton
6. nanogram(n) one billionth of a gram
7. nanometer(n)one billionth of a meter
8. nanophotonics(n)study of minute optical devices
9. nanoscience(n)study of materials measuring in nanometers
10. nanosecond(n)one billionth of a second
11. nanoshell(n)minute sphere used in biotechnology
12. nanostructure(n) a minute sttructure
13. nanotechnology(n) technology for microscopic device
14. nanotube(n)minute cylinder of rolled-up atoms
15. nanowire(n)strand with diameter in nanometers
25
 cyber-computer and information systems;virtual reality,
the internet
1. cyberdhaba(n)a roadside stall where people can use
computers or the internet to find out information
2. cybermall(n)web site for e-commerce
3. cybercafe(n)coffee house offering internet access
4. cybercast(n)broadcast on internet
5. cybermediary(n)go-between for internet transactions
6. cybernate(v)to control a manufacturing process with
computer
7. cybernetics(n)study of automatic control systems
8. cyberpunk(n)science fiction featuring characters living
in a futuristic world dominated by computer technology
9. cyberself(n)identity taken on by internet user
10. cyperspace(n)virtual reality
26
11. cybersquatting(n)registration of trademark domain name
12. cyberstalker(n)a stalker who uses he internet to harass a
victim; pedophile on internet
13. cybersurfer(n) somebody who spends a lo of time surfing
the internet
14. cyberterrorism(n)the use of techniques that disrupt or
damage computer-based information systems to cause fear,
injury, or economic loss
15. cyberthriller(n) action entertainment using computers
16. cyberwozzling(n)the gathering of data from the computer
of a visitor to a web site without his/her knowledge or
authorization

27
 bio-life,way of living
1. bio grab(n) a move by which the skater spins parallel to
the ground while holding one or both skates
2. bioaccumulation(n)organism’s accumulation of harmful
substance
3. bioactive(adj)affecting living organisms
4. bioactivity(n) the effect that a substance or agent has an
organism or living tissue
5. bioassay(n)test of substance’s activity
6. bioastronomy(n)study of potential life outside earth
7. bioaugmentation(n)use of microorganisms in processing
waste
8. bioavailability(n)the extent and rate to which a drug is
taken up by the body in a physiologically active form
9. bio-break(n) break to go to the toilet; a short break when
people go to the toilet and refresh themselves 28
10. biocatalysis(n)method of accelerating chemical reactions
11.biocenosis(n) ecological community
12.biochip(n)semiconducter chip using organic molecule
13. biocide(n) chemical that kills microorganisms
14. bioclastic rock(n) rock formed from organic remains
15. bioclimatic(adj) relationship between climate and living organisms
16. bioethics(n) ethics of medical research and treatment
17. biofabric(n) fabric containing odor and dirt repellents
18. biofilm(n) film composed of cells of microorganism
19. bioenergetics(n) study of energy in living things; therapy designed to
release energy
20. biofuel(n) fuel made from biological materials

29
Inflectional morphemes change the
form f a word but not its lexical
category and meaning
Serve to mark semantic notions like
number and grammatical categories
like gender and case
On verbs, mark as tense and number
On adjectives, indicate degree
English has only 8 inflections
30
 Inflectional Morphemes in English
Lexical Grammatical Examples
Category Category

Noun Plural cars, churches

Noun Possessive car’s, children’s
Verb Third person (he)swims, (it)breaks
Verb Past tense wanted, showed
Verb Past participle wanted, shown (or
showed)
Verb Present participle wanting, showing
Adjective Comparative taller, sweeter
Adjective Superlative tallest, sweetest
31
2. REDUPLICATION is the process by
which a morpheme or part of a
morpheme is repeated to create a new
word with a different meaning or
different category.
 English uses some kinds of
reduplication, mostly for informal
expressive vocabulary. There are
three types:
1.Rhyming reduplication(partial):
claptrap, hokey-pokey, honey-bunny,
razzle-dazzle, slim jim, super-duper,
teenie-weenie, wingding

32
 Although at first glance "Abracadabra
" appears to be an English rhyming
reduplication it in fact is not;
instead, it is derived from the
Aramaic formula "Abəra kaDavəra"
meaning "I would create as I spoke")
2. Exact/total reduplications (baby-
talk-like): bye-bye, choo-choo,
night-night, no-no, pee-pee, poo-poo

33
3. Ablaut reduplications(partial):
bric-a-brac, chit-chat, criss-cross,
ding-dong, jibber-jabber, kitty-cat,
knick-knack, pitter-patter, splish-
splash, zig-zag
 In the ablaut reduplications, the
first vowel is almost always a
high vowel and the reduplicated
ablaut variant of the vowel is a
low vowel. There is also a tendency
for the first vowel to be front and
the second vowel to be back.

34
Reduplicant position
 Reduplication may be initial (i.e. prefixal), final (i.e.
suffixal), or internal (i.e. infixal)
1. Initial reduplication in Agta (CV- prefix):
 [ɸuɾab]'afternoon'→[ɸuɸuɾab]'late afternoon‘
 [ŋaŋaj]'a long time'→[ŋaŋaŋaj]'a long time (in years)
2, Final reduplication in Dakota (-CCV suffix):
 [hãska]'tall (singular)'→ (plural)'(hãska-ska)
 [waʃte]'good (singular)'→[waʃteʃte]'good (plural)
3. Internal reduplication in Samoan (-CV- infix):
 savali'they walk'→savavali'he walks'(sa-va-vali)
 alofa'they love'→alolofa'he loves'(a-lo-lofa)
 Internal reduplication is much less common than the
initial and final types.

35
 Reduplication can have different functions in
languages:
1. Number
E.g. Indonesian- kinds of noun plurals are formed by
reduplication: babi’pig’-babibabi’an assortment
of pigs’, ibu’mother’-ibuibu’mothers’, layat’fly’-
layat-layat’flies’, orang’monkey’-
orangorang’monkeys’, anak’child’-
anakanak’children’
2. Tense
E.g. In Tagalog, to form the future tense the root
verb is reduplicated initially.
lakad-’walk’,lalakad-’will walk’, sulat-’write’,
susulat-’will write’
36
3. moderate or intensify the meaning of a word.
E.g. In Chinese, it intensifies adjective.
hong-’red’,hong-hong-’bright red’
4. Denote various plural actions
E.g. In Uto-Aztecan(California), lawi-to make a hole,
law-lawi- to make two holes, lawa-lawi-toto make
many holes
5. Alter word class
E.g. Tagalog-araw(n)sun-araw-araw
(adverb)everyday
Tangkic (Australia) kandu(n)blood;
kandukandu(adj) red

37
3.COMPOUNDS/COMPOUNDING/
COMPOSITION
 Putting existing words together
to create new lexemes/words
 When a new compound is formed ,
we already know the meaning of
its constituents,and the only
task is to find out about the
semantic relation between the
two parts.

38
Modifier Head Compound
Noun Noun Football(noun)
Adjective Noun Blackboard(noun)
Verb Noun Breakwater(noun)
Preposition Noun Underwater(noun), out fox(verb) outwit somebody
Noun Adjective Snow white(noun)
Adjective Adjective Blue-green(adjective)
Verb Adjective/adverb Tumbledown(adjective)-dilapidated or ruined and falling down
Preposition Adjective Over-ripe(adjective)
Noun Verb Browbeat(verb)
Adjective Verb Highlight(noun,verb)best part;emphasize something
Verb Verb Freeze-dry(verb)
Preposition Verb Undercut(verb,noun)cut lower part of something or reduce;a cut
made in he lower part
Noun Preposition Love-in(noun)a relatively large gathering in which participants
experience feelings of love and mutual support

Adjective Preposition Forthwith(adverb) immediately;without delay

Verb Preposition Take-out(verb);stand by(verb);roll on(verb)
Preposition Preposition Without(preposition)
39
Adverb Verb Downsize(verb)make something smaller, upgrade(n,v,adj)
Kinds of compounding:
1. Endocentric (karmadharaya in Sanskrit )
consists of head ,i.e. the categorical part
that contains the basic meaning of the
whole compound , and modifiers , which
restrict this meaning.
E.g. doghouse-where house is the head and
the dog is the modifier,is understood as a
house intended for a dog.
Backyard ,armchair ,girlfriend ,breath test

40
2 .Exocentric(bahuvrihi) has head and its
meaning often cannot be transparently
guessed from its constituents parts
E.g. pickpocket is neither a kind of pocket nor
a kind of pick; it’s a kind of person.
White-collar is neither a kind of collar nor a
white thing(the collar’s color is a
metaphor for socio-economic status)
 garden gladiator
 kitchen kitten
 bedroom bunny
41
4.fishwife-a woman who uses abusive language
5 .kidnap-to abduct by force or fraud
6. honeymoon-a vacation taken by newly married couple
7 .garbage mouth-someone who uses foul or obscene language
8 .yellow pages-the classified section of a telephone
directory ,listing subscribers by the type of business or
service they offer
9.yellow belly- a coward
10.redbreast-a robin (a kind of bird)
11.redneck-uneducated,farm laborer
12.blue book-a booklet in which students answer exa mination
questions
13.blueblood-an Aristocrat or a member of nobility
14.true blue-unwaveringly loyal or faithful
15. green –eyed-jealous
16. green thumb-exceptional aptitude for gardening
17. blacklist-person is under suspicion or disfavor 42
18.Black magic-sorcery
19 .black widow-a venomous spider
20. white lie- minor ,polite or harmless lie
21.white slave-a girl/woman forced into prostitution
22 .tickled pink- greatly pleased
23. eyesore-something unpleasant or ugly to look at
24.blue stocking- a female writer
25. bear jam-a traffic jam in a park caused by
motorists stopping to watch one or more bears.
26. man breasts-excess fatty tissue that causes a
man's chest to resemble a woman's breasts
27. salad dodger-an overweight person; a person
who shuns healthy foods

43
28. office creeper-A person who sneaks into
an office building during business hours to
steal personal items and equipment
29 . deprivation cuisine-food prepared in such
a way that it is healthy, but bland
30. flash mob-a large group of people who
gather in a usually predetermined
location, perform some brief action, and
then quickly disperse
31 . commercial creep- the gradual
encroachment of commercial real estate
into residential areas.
44
32 .carrot mob-people support an
environmentally-friendly store by gathering
en masse to purchase the store's products.
33. new white flight-the migration of whites to
areas or states that are not racially diverse
and that have relatively low rates of crime
and other social ills.
34. babysit
35. soft drink

45
3. Appositional/Apposition refers to lexemes that
have two contrary attributes
 old news-familiar news
 civil war-a war between opposing forces
within a country
 Industrial park-an area of land developed in
an orderly planned way for industry or
business
 open secret-something that is supposed to be
secret but in actual fact is widely known
 Living death/dead-point of unrelieved misery ,
a life or period of time that is full of misery
or pain 46
6. unseen sight
7 . small fortune
8. pretty ugly
9. intellectual idiot
10. working holiday
11. loyal opposition
12. open-ended
13. sweetsour
14. true lies
15. black ivory
16. sweet revenge
47
4. Copulative(dvandra)a compound word
made up of two parts of equal status that
would make sense if joined by “and”
instead of being compounded.
 No semantic head; relation of two
constituents is a relation of coordination
1.push and pull
2. buy and sell
3. prim and proper
4. the gods and demons
48
4. CLIPPINGS/SHORTENINGS
 Popular means of multiplying words
of a language
 A word of more than one
syllable is reduced to a
shorter form
 a process which consists in the
reduction of a word to one of its
parts (Marchand: 1969). Clipping
mainly consists of the following
types:
1. Back clipping
2. Fore-clipping
3. Middle clipping 49
1. Back clipping or apocopation is the
most common type, in which the
beginning is retained. The unclipped
original may be either a simple or a
composite.
 Examples are: ad (advertisement),
cable (cablegram), doc (doctor), exam
(examination), gas (gasoline), math
(mathematics), memo (memorandum),
gym (gymnastics, gymnasium), fax
(facsimile), cap (captain)
50
2. Fore-clipping
 Fore-clipping or aphaeresis retains the
final part.
 Examples are: phone (telephone),
chute (parachute), coon (racoon),
gator (alligator), pike (turnpike).
3. Middle clipping
 In middle clipping or syncope, the
middle of the word is retained.
Examples are: flu (influenza), tec
(detective), polly (apollinaris), jams
(pyjamas), shrink (head-shrinker).
51
1. Mike-microphone
2. Demo-demonstration
3. Lab-laboratory
4. Bike-bicycle
5. Nark-narcotics
6 .Radials-radial tires
7 .jet- jet plane
8 .obits-obituaries
9 .indie-independent films
10 Disco-discotheque
52
11 . Wig-periwig
12 . Bus-omnibus/cannibus
13. gent-gentleman
14. Rebs-rebels
15. Feds-federal agents
16. Abs-abdomen
17. Limo-limousine
18. ref or fridge-refrigerator
19. Frank-frankfurters
20. Pix-picture
21. pram-perambulator
22. fax-facsimile
23. mart-market
24. plane-airplane
25. disk-diskette 53
26. condo-condominium
27. prefab-prefabricated
28. recap-recapitulation
28. flu-influenza
29. prep-preparatory
30. pro-professional
31. prof-professor
32. bra-brassiere
33. rehab-rehabilitation
34. psycho-psychology
35. atty-attorney
36. infra-infrastucture 54
5. ACRONYMS/INITIALISMS are shortening
in which the initial letters of an
expression or word sequence are
joined and pronounced as a word.
1. aids-acquired immuno deficiency
syndrome
2. radar-radio detection and ranging
3. scuba-self-contained underwater
breathing apparatus
4. bogof-buy one get one free
5. lifo-last in first out
6. laser-light amplification by
simulated emission of radiation

55
7.snafu-situation normal all
fouled up
8.sonar-sound navigation ranging
9.yup-young urban professional
10.dink-double income no kids
11.loran–long ranging navigation

12.TENOR-teaching english for

no obvious reasons
13.ADIDAS-all day I dream always
of sex
56
6.Alphabetism- combination of the first
letters of words, pronounced with the
phonetic value of these letters in the
alphabet.
1. VIP-very important person
2. PC-personal computer
3. OR-official receipt/operating roo m
4. TLC-tender loving care
5. PS-post script
6. ER-emergency room
7. OA-overacting
8. GI-government issue(military men are
issued by the government);galvanized
iron

57
9.aka-also known as
10.DJ-disc jockey
11.PDA-public display of attention
12.AM-ante meridiem
13.PM-post meridiem
14.F4-flower four
15.Ph.D-Doctor of Philosophy
16.Ed.D-Doctor of Education
17.www-world wide web
18.DR-delivery room
19.SMS-short messaging services
20.CD-ROM-Compact Disc-Read only memory
21. ob-gyny-obstetrics and gyn(a)ecology or
obstetrician and gyn(a)ecologist
58
7. BLENDS/BLENDING/PORTMANTEAU WORDS
 Are created by combining parts of
existing words
 Formation of blendings
 Most blends are formed by one of the
following methods:
1. The beginning of one word is added
to the end of the other. For example,
brunch is a blend of breakfast and
lunch. This is the most common method
of blending.
2. The beginnings of two words are
combined. For example, cyborg (a
fictional being that is part human,
part robot) is a blend of cybernetic
and organism. 59
3. One complete word is combined with part of another
word. For example, guesstimate is a blend of guess
and estimate.
4. Two words are blended around a common sequence
of sounds. For example, the word Californication, from
a song by the Red Hot Chili Peppers, is a blend of
California and fornication.
5. Multiple sounds from two component words are
blended, while mostly preserving the sounds' order.
Poet Lewis Carroll was well known for these kinds of
blends. An example of this is the word slithy, a blend
of lithe and slimy. This method is difficult to achieve
and is considered a sign of Carroll's verbal wit.
 When two words are combined in their entirety, the
result is considered a compound word rather than a
blend. For example, bagpipe is a compound, not a
blend.
60
1. Smog(smoke and fog)
2. brunch(breakfast, lunch)
3. fanzine(fan, magazine)
4. punkumentary (punk, documentary)
5. infomercial(information,commercial
6. Intertwingle(intertwine , inter
mingle)
7.stagflation(stagnation , inflation )
8.Animatronics(animated , electronics)
9.glitterati(glitter , literati)
10.digerati(digital , literati)
7.stagflation(stagnation , inflation )
8.Animatronics(animated , electronics)
9.glitterati(glitter , literati)
10.digerati(digital , literati) 61
11.slithy(slimy, lithe)
12.Mimsy (miserable , flimsy)
13.camcorder(camera , recorder)
14.Moped(motor , pedal)
15.motorcade(motorcar , cavalcade)
16.interpol(international ,
police)
17.humongous(huge , monstrous)
18.emoticon(emotion , icon)
19.plench(plier , wrench)
20.sexational(sex , sensational)
62
21. glasphalt(glass ,asphalt)
22. modem (modulator ,demodulator)
23 .chortle (chuckle ,snort)
24. twirl(turn ,twirl)
25. cyborg(cybernetic ,organism)
26.infanticipating(infant ,anticipating)
27.fantabulous(fantastic ,fabulous)
28. psywar(psychological ,warfare)
29. domsat(domestic, satellite)
30.escalator(escalade ,motor)
31. electrocution(electro,execution)
32.transistor (transfer ,resistor)
33.taxicab(taximeter ,cabriolet)
34.pixel(picture ,element) 63
35.travelogue(travel ,monologue)
36.faction(fact, fiction)
37.Sitcom(situational,comedy)
38.glitz(glamorous,ritz/rits/)
39.squiggle(squirm,wriggle)
40.tangelo(tangerine,pomelo)
41.mingy(mean,stingy)
42.perma-press(permanent,press)
43.cyborg(cybernetic ,organism)
44.newscast(news,broadcast)
45.condotel(condominium,hotel)
46.apartel(apartment,hotel)
47.unibank(universal,banking)
48. motel(motor,hotel)
49.simulcast(simultaneous, broadcast)
50.cosmonaut(cosmopolitan,astronaut)
64
51.renoviction(renovation ,eviction)-the mass
eviction of an apartment building’s tenants
52.returnment(return ,retirement)-an act of
returning to work after having retired
53.ecosexual(ecology ,sexual)-a
single.environmentally conscious person with
a strong aesthetic sense
54.celesbian(celebrity ,lesbian)-a celebrity who
is a lesbian (e.g. Ellen Degeneres)
55.metrosexual(metropolis ,sexual)-an urban male
with a strong aesthetic sense who spends a
great deal of money and time in his
appearance and lifestyle
56. mancation (man, vacation)-a vacation in
which the participants are all men

65
57. avoision (avoidance ,evasion) That great
economist Arthur Seldon invented the new
word "avoision." It is the fine line
between "avoiding" taxes, which is legal,
and evading taxes, which is unlawful.
58.magalogue is a cross between a magazine
and a catalogue
59. televangelist is a television evangelist
60. goodbye:God + be (with) + ye
61. doddle:dodder , toddle
62. swipe: wipe, sweep
63. chork: chopstick , fork
64. diabesity:diabetes,obesity
65. hazmat: hazardous , material
66
8. BACK FORMATION- is a process whereby a
word whose form is similar to that of a
derived form undergoes a process of
deaffixation or new words may be formed
from already existing words by
‘subtracting’ an affix thought to be
part of the old word.
 For example, the noun resurrection was
borrowed from Latin, and the verb
resurrect was then backformed hundreds
of years later from it by removing the
-ion suffix.

67
 This segmentation of resurrection into
resurrect + ion was possible because
English had many examples of Latinate
words that had verb and verb+-ion pairs
— in these pairs the -ion suffix is
added to verb forms in order to create
nouns (such as, insert/insertion,
project/projection, etc.).
 E.g. hawk, stoke, swindle, edit,
resurrect, donate, orient all came into
the language as back formations of
hawker, stoker, swindler, editor,
resurrection, donation, orientation.
68
9. CONVERSION OR FUNCTIONAL SHIFT- a word
belonging to one category can be converted
to another category without any changes to
the form of the word.
Noun Verb Adjective
e-mail e-mail
bookmark bookmark
update update
average average average
model model model
brick brick brick
prime prime prime
blanket blanket blanket

69
 Other examples:
1. He’s papering the bedroom walls
2. They’re vacationing in France
3. They up the prices
4. We down a few beers
5. I pal around with terrorists
6. He fathered my child
7. Anteaters mother good offsprings.

70
10. BORROWINGS is the process by
which one language takes and
incorporates some linguistic
elements from another.
 A special type of borrowing is loan
translation or calque, a direct
translation of elements of a word
into the borrowing language.
 Borrowing is just taking a word from
another language. The borrowed words
are called loan words. A loanword
(or loan word) is a word directly
taken into one language from another
with little or no translation.
71
 By contrast, a calque or loan
translation is a related concept
whereby it is the meaning or idiom that
is borrowed rather than the
lexical item itself. The word loanword
is itself a calque of the German
Lehnwort. Loanwords can also be called
"borrowings".
 English has been extraordinarily
receptive to borrowed words, accepting
words from nearly a hundred languages.
 English borrowed from French, Japanese,
Spanish, Italian, Latin, Greek, German,
Yiddish, Russian, Chinese, Arabic,
Hindi, etc. 72
 In borrowing, sometimes the sound is the
same but the spelling differs.
 Most languages are borrowers, and the
lexicon of any language can be divided
into native and non-native words.
 English borrowed pronouns they, their and
them from Scandinavian. English words
beginning with [sk] are of Scandinavian
origin: scatter, scare, skirt, skin, sky
 French are not open to borrowings,
especially from English.
 Most borrowings into English have been
nouns.
 Borrowed words sooner or later conform to
the pronunciation patterns and grammatical
rules of the borrowing language.
73
 Loanwords in English
 English has many loanwords. In 1973, a
computerized survey of about 80,000 words
in the old Shorter Oxford Dictionary (3rd
edition) was published in
Ordered Profusion by Thomas Finkenstaedt
and Dieter Wolff. Their estimates for the
origin of English words were as follows:
1.French, including Old French and early
Anglo-French: 28.3%
2.Latin, including modern scientific and
technical Latin: 28.24%
3. Germanic languages, including Old and
Middle English: 25%
4. Greek: 5.32%
5. No etymology given or unknown: 4.03%
6. Derived from proper names: 3.28%
7. All other languages contributed less than
1% 74
11. INVENTION/INVENTING
WORDS/COINAGE/ROOT CREATION
 Inventing words from scratch is
not common.
 Coinage is the invention of totally
new words. The typical process of
coinage usually involves the
extension of a product name from a
specific reference to a more general
one. For example, think of Kleenex,
Xerox, and Kodak. These started as
names of specific products, but now
they are used as the generic names
for different brands of these types
of products.
75
 Granola-oat breakfast cereal: a breakfast cereal
consisting of rolled oats mixed with other
ingredients such as brown sugar, dried fruit, nuts,
honey, and sesame seeds
 xerox, kodak,
 pepsi, cola, bic,
 geek-somebody awkward: somebody who is
considered unattractive and socially awkward
(insult); obsessive computer user: somebody who
enjoys or takes pride in using computers or other
technology, often to what others consider an
excessive degree (informal),
76
 zap-vt destroy somebody or something: to kill or
finish somebody or something off with sudden force
 2. vti change TV channels using remote control: to
change channels on a television set using a remote
control device, especially to change channels
rapidly
 3. vi move quickly: to move about or accomplish
something very rapidly
 4. vt cook something in microwave: to cook
something in a microwave oven. I’ll just zap this for
a minute and then we can eat.
 n (plural zaps) (informal) 1. energy: energy and
excitement 2. time in microwave: a short period of
time in a microwave
77
 quark-basic component of particles: any
elementary particle with an electric charge equal to
one-third or two-thirds that of the electron.
 [Mid-20th century. Coined by American physicist
Murray Gell-Mann (1929), alluding to the phrase
“three quarks for Muster Mark” in James Joyce’s
Finnegans Wake ; because originally there were
thought to be three quarks]
 Sputnik-Soviet satellite: one of a series of ten
artificial Earth-orbiting satellites launched by the
former Soviet Union starting in 1957. The first launch
initiated the space race with the United States.

78
 nerd-an offensive term deliberately insulting somebody’s physical
appearance or social skills (slang insult) ; single-minded enthusiast:
an enthusiast whose interest is regarded as too technical or scientific
and who seems obsessively wrapped up in it (often used in
The word was
combination; offensive in some contexts).
invented by Dr. Theodore Seuss, author of
children’s book, If I Ran the Zoo(1950).He
referred nerd as a small angry humanoid
animal.
 Gizmo(origin unknown)-device or piece of equipment:
a gadget, especially a mechanical or electrical device
considered to be more complicated than necessary (informal);
a new video recorder with all the latest gizmos
 Lollapalooza(origin unknown)-wonderful thing:
somebody or something that is wonderful or a particularly
remarkable example of its kind (informal)

79
12. EUPHEMISM- a word or expression
regarded as less harsh, blunt,
unpleasant or socially unacceptable
than others.
 Infanticipating(pregnant)
 sanitation aide(street sweeper)
 memorial park (cemetery)
 homely or plain(ugly)
 violated(raped)
 sanitation engineer(janitor)
 landscape architect(gardener)
 intoxicated (drunk)
 depression(hard times)

80
 Some euphemisms are amusing. These
seem harmless,even rather silly.
E.g. Physical Education Department
is changed to Department of Human
Performance; sexual intercourse to
penile insertive behavior
 Some euphemisms are merely
humourous, others are ridiculous but
some are truly devious and they are
called DOUBLESPEAK, the term was
coined from 2 words doublethink and
newspeak used by George Orwell(1984)
to describe a future in which the
government twists words to
manipulate its citizens’ thoughts; a
language that makes the bad seem
good, the negative appear positive.
81
E.g. wood interdental stimulator
(toothpick)
 high-velocity, multipurpose air circulator
(an electric fan)
 unique retail biosphere (a farmer’s market)
 mental activity at the margins (insanity)
 Grain-consuming animal units(pigs and cows)
 ethnic cleansing (genocide-the Serbian
government’s term for forcibly removing and
massacring Serbia’s Muslim population)
 foreign guests(What Iraqi Pres Saddam
Hussein called hostages held prisoner by
his government)
 nutritional avoidance therapy ( diet)
 uncontrolled contact with the ground
(airplane crash)
 ground-mounted confirmatory route markers
82
(road signs)
Politically Correct (PC)language- emerged
during the 1980’s; this doctrine holds that
everyday language is filled with
expressions and words that offend or
alienate certain groups or call into
question their differences. Many of these
terms are considered jokes but many have
been adopted by oversensitive people who
dare not risk offending anyone or do not
want to be offended themselves.
 visually-challenged or photonically non-
receptive (blind)
 vertically-challenged (short people)
 physically-challenged (disabled)
 mentally-challenged (slow learners)
 developmentally-challenged (retarded)
 chronologically-advantaged/seniors(old
people)
83
 collateral damage (war casualties)
 melanin impoverished(white)
 nontraditional shopper(looter,
shoplifter)
 circumferencially privileged or
horizontally-challenged or
alternative body image (fat)
 personhole cover ( Manhole cover)
 sexually-focused ( Dirty Old Man)
 socially misaligned (Psychopath)
 sexually dysfunctional (Perverted)
 sexually non-preferential (Bisexual)

84
 motivationally deficient (Lazy)
 egotistically accelerated
(Self-centered)
 perceptually-challenged
(Narrow-minded)
 gravitationally challenged (obese)
 ethically disoriented (dishonest)
 follicularly challenged, follically
disadvantaged, comb-free (Bald)
 uniquely coordinated(Clumsy)
 nondiscretionary fragrance (body
odor)
 differentially logical (wrong)

85
 cosmetically different or aesthetically
challenged(Ugly)
 dysfunctional earth children,
biologically-challenged, living
impaired, metabolically different,
metaphysically-challenged
(Dead people)
 chemically-challenged (Drug Addict)
 environmental activist(Tree Hugger)
 processed tree carcass(Paper Bag)
 parasitically oppressed(Pregnant)
 knowledge-based Nonpossessor
(Ignorant)
 oxygen exchange units(Trees)

86
 domestic engineer(Housewife)
 utensil sanitizer(Dish Washer)
 economically unprepared(Poor)
 involuntarily leisured(Unemployed)
 cybernetically challenged(Net Addict)
 mentally different(genius)
 neuronically-challenged (dumb)
 seared mutillated animal flesh (hamburger)
 alternative wisdom(ignorance)
 self-paced cognitive ability(learning
disability)
 spouse equivalents(lovers)
 gynocentric being(lesbian)

87
 PC title for Snow White and the Seven
Dwarfs is SNOW MELANIN-
IMPOVERISHED and the SEVEN
VERTICALLY-CHALLENGED
INDIVIDUALS

88
 Religious euphemisms
 Golly, gosh
 gadzooks, supposedly "God's hooks", the nails by
which Jesus hung on the cross
 Gawd, goldang
 Doggone, gosh darn
 dad gum, gad
 Hughie
 dog, an anagram for God used mostly in the phrase
"Oh my dog!" or "Oh My Feicking Dog". Also
known in the internet world as OMD or OMFD.
89
 Jesus/Jesus Christ:
 Gee, Jeez
 Jeebus (used originally in The Simpsons, and now
creeping into common parlance)
 gee whiz, golly gee
 jeepers or jeepers creepers
 Jiminy Christmas
 cheese and rice (used by Brittany Murphy as Sarah
McNerney in Just Married)
 The Devil:
 the dark one
 the deuce ("The deuce you say!"; now archaic)
 the dickens, in use before the era of Charles Dickens
 Old Nick
 Old Scratch or Old Scrotch

90
 Excretory euphemisms
 urine/urinate:
 gypsies kiss
 number one
 pee
 piddle
 tinkle
 wee-wee
 whiz
 take a leak
 relieve oneself
 drain the lizard

91
 feces/defecation:
 number two
 bowel movement or BM
 droppings
 dung
 poo (and variations such as poop and poopie)
 doo (typically in "dog doo", but see below)
 night soil (archaic, but still used for composted human
feces)
 stool
 drop off a load
 take a dump
 pinch a loaf
92
 toilets / bathrooms (both of which are themselves
euphemisms)
 men's room / women's room
 the little boy's room / the little girl's room
 Restroom, the throne
 the porcelain god, often in connection with vomiting
 the head, sailor's terminology. The "facility" was placed
on the bow or head of the ship in case of falls while at
sea
 the john, the potty, outhouse, backhouse
 W.C., short for Water Closet
 the facilities or, when camping, "the facili-trees"
 ""The cadillac"(a heated/cooled bathroom in a military
deployed location)
 The Loo
93
 breasts:
 mammets (archaic)
 Bosom, chest, bust
 white meat (Victorian) circumlocution for chicken
breast, to avoid association with human breasts)
 buttocks:
 Bum, bottom, posterior, rump
 fanny (American English only; means "vagina" in
British English)
 tush or tushy
 booty
 thang

94
 Having sex:
 Feick, mac, fudge, shag
 knockin' boots
 know: Biblical Adam knew Eve; generally phrased
"know him/her... in the Biblical sense"
 sleep with, hook up, make love
 carnal knowledge, act of union
 horizontal mambo
 makin' bacon, frick'n
 makin' babies
 wild monkey dance

95
13.EPONYMY- places, inventions, cities, etc
are named from proper names of individuals
and places.
e.g. sandwich:John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich (1718-
92), English diplomat who put his food between two slices
of bread so that he could eat while he gambled.
ohm and watt: George Simon Ohm and James Watt(Scottish
inventors)
hamburger: Hamburg City in Germany
frankfurter: Frankfurt City in West Germany
Scrooge: a miserly character from Charles Dicken’s ‘A
Christmas Carol’
Bobby: a British policeman; a diminutive of Robert(came
into use after Robert Peel organized the police system in
London in the 19th century)
96
 boycott: Captain Charles Boycott, British army officer
 dahlia: a plant native in Mexico; named after A. Dahl,
Swedish botanist (18th century)
 Rubik’s cube: a puzzle cube consisting of 27 smaller
rotating cubes; Erno Rubik, Hungarian inventor
 biro (ball point pen): Luzlo Biro, Hungarian inventor
 braille: Louis Braille, French inventor
 frisbee: William Frisbee, a pie company owner from
Connecticut
 diesel: Rudolf Diesel, a German automotive engineer
 leotard: Jules Leotard, a French acrobat who designed the
costume for his high-wire trapeze act

97
 aphrodisiac:Aphrodite, Greek goddess of love and beauty
 arachnid: Arachne, girl in Greek mythology turned into a
spider by Athena
 asphalt:Leopold von Asphalt (1802-80), Bavarian landowner
 atlas:Atlas, Titan in Greek mythology
 AugustAugustus Caesar (63 BC - AD 14), Roman emperor
 axel(jump in ice skating):Axel Paulsen (1856-1938),
Norwegian figure skater
 banting(dieting by cuting fat, starch, and sugar out of the
diet):William Banting (1797-1878), English
undertaker(funeral director)
 begonia(flower):Michel Bégon (1638-1710), French patron
saint of science
 bigot(a person who refuses to accept different
views):Nathaniel Bigot (1575-1660), English Puritan teacher; a
puritan is somebody with strict moral code)
98
 blimp(somebody who is stubborn, pompous or unreasonably
conservative):Colonel Blimp, cartoon character by Sir David
Low (1891-1963), New Zealand cartoonist
 bloomers(baggy underwear/long loose wome’s pants): Amelia
Jenkins Bloomer (1818-94), American feminist
 blurb(a short piece of writing that praises and promotes
something especially a paragraph on the cover of a book):Miss
Belinda Blurb, picture by Gelett Burgess (1866-1951),
American humorist and illustrator
 boffin(a scientific expert):Mr Boffin, character in the novel
Our Mutual Friend (1864-5), by Charles Dickens (1812-70),
English novelist
 bougainvillaea:Louis Antoine de Bougainville (1729-1811),
French explorer
 bowdlerise(remove parts of a literary works that are
indecent):Thomas Bowdler (1734-1825), British doctor 99
 cardigan(long-sleeved sweater):James Thomas Brudnell,
7th Earl of Cardigan (1797-1868), British cavalry officer
 Casanova(promiscuous or predatory man):Giovanni
Jacopo Casanova (1725-98), Italian adventurer
 cattleya(orchid):William Cattley (d.1832), English botanist
and horticultural patron
 Celsius:Anders Celsius (1701-44), Swedish astronomer and
scientist
 cereal(grain,breakfast food):Ceres, Roman goddess of
grain and agriculture
 chauvinism(aggressive patriotism):Nicolas Chauvin,
French soldier in Napoleon's army
 derrick(loading crane; oil structure):Goodman Derrick,
17th century English hangman
 derringer(pistol):Henry Deringer (1786-1868), American
gunsmith

100
 doggerel(poetry with irregular rhythm;poor-quality
compositions):Matthew Doggerel (1330-1405), English poet
 doily(lacy mat;small napkin):Mr Doyley (first name
unknown), 17th century London draper
 dolomite(sedimenary rock)Deodat de Dolomieu (1750-
1801), French geologist
 electra complex(daughter’s supposed attraction to her
father)Electra, daughter of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra
in Greek mythology
 ferris wheel:George Washington Gale Ferris (1859-96),
American engineer
 Friday:Frig (or Frigga), Norse goddess of married love
 fuchsia(color):Leonard Fuchs (1501-66), German botanist
and physician

101
 galvanise(stimulate somebody to act;coat metal with
zinc):Luigi Galvani (1739-98), Italian physiologist
 gamp(a large umbrella):Mrs Sarah Gamp, nurse in the novel
Martin Chuzzlewit by Charles Dickens
 gardenia(evergreen tree bearing white flowers):Alexander
Garden (1730-91), Scottish-American botanist
 gargantuan(huge): Gargantua, gigantic king in the novel
Gargantua by French satirist Francois Rabelais (c.1494-1553)
 grog(hot alcoholic drink), groggy(weak or dizzy):Old Grog,
nickname of Sir Edward Vernon (1684-1757), British admiral
 guillemot(seabird):Guillemot, affectionate form of Guillaume,
the French version of the English name William
 guillotine(machine for beheading people):Joseph Ignace
Guillotin (1738-1814, French physician
102
 mentor:Mentor, Odysseus's loyal friend in Homer's Odyssey
 mesmerise(absrob someone’s attention, hypnotize):Franz Anton
Mesmer (1734-1815), Austrian physician and hypnotist
 namby-pamby(adj.weak or silly):Nickname of Ambrose Philips
(1674-1749), English poet
 panic:Pan, Greek god of woods, shepherds and flocks
 pantaloons/pants:San Pantaleone, 4th century Venetian
physician and saint
 pavlova(n-meringue dessert):Anna Pavlova (1885-1931),
Russian ballerina
 quixotic/kwiksotik/adj.excessively romantic, impractical,
impulsive):Don Quixote, hero of novel Don Quixote de la
Mancha by Spanish novelist Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra
(1547-1616)
 Rolls-RoyceCharles Stewart Rolls (1877-1910) and Sir
103
Frederick Henry Royce (1836-1933), English car manufacturers
 sadism/saydizem/hurting others for sexual pleasure,
cruelty):Count Donatien Alphonse François de Sade (1740-1814),
French soldier and writer
 salmonella(bacterium causing food poisoning):Daniel Elmer
Salmon (1850-1914), American veterinary surgeon
 shrapnel(fragments from explosive device):Henry Shrapnel
(1761-1842), English artillery officer
 sideburns(hair grown down the side of man’s face in front of his
ears; hair in front of ears):Ambrose Everett Burnside (1824-81),
American general
 siemens(measurement of conductance):Ernst Werner von
Siemens (1816-92), German electrical engineer
 sievert(unit of measuring effect of radiation)R. M. Sievert (1896-
1966), Swedish physicist
 silhouette(shadowed contour)Étienne de Silhouette (1709-67),
French politiciansilly-billyWilliam IV (1765-1837), English king
104
 tantalise(to tease):Tantalus, mythical king of Phrygia
 tarmac(short for 'tarmacadam') John Loudon McAdam
(1756-1836), Scottish engineer
 tawdry/tawdree/gaudy and of poor quality:St Audrey
(Ethelrida; d.679), Queen of Northumbria, patron saint of
Ely
 Thursday:Thor, Norse god of thunder
 volcano, vulcanise:Vulcan, Roman god of fire and
metalworking
 volt:Count Alessandron Volta (1745-1827), Italian physicist
 Wednesday:Woden, god of wisdom, culture and war
 jacuzzi(whirlpool bath):Candido Jacuzzi (1903-86),
Italian/US inventor and businessman

105
 marigold(garden plant with yellow flower):Virgin
Mary, mother of Jesus
 marmalade(a preserve made with citrus
fruits):Joao Marmalado (1450-1510), Portugal
 masochism/massokizzem/sexual pleasure through
humiliation; psychological disorder:Leopold von
Sacher-Masoch (1836-95), Austrian novelist
 maudlin(sentimental):Mary Magdalen, who wept
at the empty tomb after the resurrection of Jesus
 mausoleum(tomb):King Mausolus, ruler of Caria
in ancient Greece
 maverick(independent person)Samuel Augustus
Maverick (1803-70), American pioneer

106
107