Understand Forming New Words: Derivation and Back-Formation in English
Processes
Word formation is the process of creating new words. The following word formation processes result in the creation of new words in English:
- Derivation
- Back-formation
- Conversion
- Compounding
- Clipping
- Blending
- Abbreviations
- Acronyms
- Eponyms
- Coinages
- Nonce words
- Borrowing
- Calquing
The following sections define and exemplify the related word formation processes of derivation and back-formation.
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, state or 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
-
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
Note that, although both processes involve the affixation 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 the plural form of nouns, e.g., _dog_ and _dogs_. Both _eats_ and _dogs_ 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 the base 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 the result of an overgeneralization of derivation suffixes. For example, the noun back-formation entered 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 the verb back-form. Back-formation, therefore, is the opposite of 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.
This post is part of the series: Word Formation: Creating New Words in English
The articles in this series define and exemplify the most common word formation processes, or the creation of new words, in English including derivation, back-formation, conversion, compounding, clipping, blending, abbreviations, acronyms, eponyms, coinages, nonce words, borrowing, and calquing.
