etymythology

Syllables: e·ty·my·tho·lo·gyUK/ˌɛ.tɪ.mɪˈθɒl.ə.d͡ʒi/US/ˌɛ.tə.mɪˈθɑ.lə.d͡ʒi/

etymythology noun: a false etymology that has become widely disseminated and thus is commonly accepted as true; a folk etymology.

Noun

etymythology (plural etymythologies)

A false etymology that has become widely disseminated and thus is commonly accepted as true; a folk etymology.
- The basic element which transforms names and placenames into narratives or narrative details is the pun. I call this process etymythology. and I show how James Joyce's knowledge of Irish onomastic and toponomastic tales, and his interest in the process which created them, was bolstered by his early...1976, Sean Valentine Golden, Bygmythster Finnegan: Etymology As Poetics In the Works of James Joyce, University of Connecticut
- There are two specific kinds of etymythology that continually recur. One argues that a given word has been created as an acronym, from the initial letters of a phrase. This is a common suggestion, for words as widely differentiated as cop, ‘Constable On Patrol’, FUCK, supposedly ‘Fornication Under...2005, Michael Quinion, Port Out, Starboard Home: The Fascinating Stories We Tell About the words We Use, Penguin Books Limited, page 8

Examples of etymythology in a sentence

There are two specific kinds of etymythology that continually recur.2005, Michael Quinion, Port Out, Starboard Home: The Fascinating Stories We Tell About the words We Use, Penguin Books Limited, page 8:
I have heard an etymythology that this arises from the prevalence of animals in Dr Seuss’s stories.2006, Tope Omoniyi, Joshua A. Fishman, editors, Explorations in the Sociology of Language and Religion, John Benjamins Publishing Company...
The Internet is simply a far more efficient etymythology tool than its predecessors.2008, Bill Brohaugh, Everything You Know About English Is Wrong, Sourcebooks, page 68:
Clearly a favourable factor, for the quality of the etymythology about Tokyo, is that in the Hebrew Bible there is indeed a place-name derived from the Hebrew verb תָּקַע taká.2014, Ghil‘ad Zuckermann, editor, Burning Issues in Afro-Asiatic Linguistics, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, page 277:

Forms of etymythology

plural	etymythologies

Origin of etymythology

Blend of etymology + mythology. Though the term is modernly believed to be coined by linguist Laurence R. Horn in 2004, there are linguistic uses that go back to 1969 by Sean Valentine Golden.

Words that rhyme with etymythology

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about etymythology

What does etymythology mean?: Etymythology means a false etymology that has become widely disseminated and thus is commonly accepted as true; a folk etymology.
How do you use etymythology in a sentence?: There are two specific kinds of etymythology that continually recur.
What part of speech is etymythology?: Etymythology is a noun.
How do you pronounce etymythology?: Etymythology is pronounced /ˌɛ.tɪ.mɪˈθɒl.ə.d͡ʒi/ (UK).
What is the plural of etymythology?: The plural of etymythology is etymythologies.

Words near etymythology in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: etymythology (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.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

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