backforms

Back-formation is a word-formation process in which a new word is created by removing what is perceived to be an affix from an existing word. The term arose in 19th-century linguistics to describe a kind of morphological reanalysis, where speakers treat a familiar word as if it were built from a shorter root plus an affix, then create the shorter form as a new word.

In practice, back-formation often yields new verbs from nouns or adjectives that ended in a suffix-like element. Classic examples include editor becoming edit, television giving rise to televise, burglar leading to burgle, and babysitter prompting babysit. Surveil is also cited as a back-formation from surveillance. These outcomes illustrate how back-formation typically changes the word’s part of speech, usually shaping a verb from a noun or a noun from a longer noun.

Back-formation is distinct from other word-formation processes such as derivation with affixes, clipping, or compounding. It relies on speaker reanalysis of a word’s structure rather than on a productive rule that applies uniformly across a language. Because it often depends on perception and usage, back-formed words may be controversial among linguists; some instances are accepted as genuine historical developments, while others are judged to be Folk etymology or unintended byproducts of analysis.

Today back-formation remains a well-attested phenomenon in English and other languages, reflecting how language users continuously reshape vocabulary through interpretation and convenience.