Thursday, January 29, 2009

BACK-FORMATIONS

A back-formation is a word that is formed from an already existing word from which it appears to be a derivative, often by removal of a suffix (e.g., laze from lazy and edit from editor).
Other Examples: berserk; couth; eavesdrop; enthuse; greed; gruntled; haze; kempt; peddle; swindle; televise