Word.ws English Dictionary

backformation

backformation is the alternative spelling of back-formation.

Meaning of back-formation

Noun

back-formation (countable and uncountable, plural back-formations)

  1. (uncountable) The process by which a new word is formed from an older word by interpreting the former as a derivative of the latter, often by removing a morpheme (real or perceived) from the older word, such as the verb burgle, formed by removing -ar (perceived as an agent-noun suffix) from burglar.
  2. (countable) A word created in this way.
    • Back-formations, such as tambour (for “play the tambourine”), are a staple of comedic wordplay.
    Synonyms:
    back-form

Forms of backformation

pluralbackformations

Questions about backformation

What is backformation the alternative spelling of?
Backformation is the alternative spelling of back-formation.

Words near backformation in the dictionary

  1. backfoot
  2. backfooted
  3. backfooting
  4. backfoots
  5. backform
  6. backformation
  7. backformations
  8. backformed
  9. backforming
  10. backforms
  11. backfriend

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: backformation (page history and authors); back-formation (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “backformation.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/backformation. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.