folk etymology

Noun

folk etymology (countable and uncountable, plural folk etymologies)

1. A popular explanation for the origin of a term which has been rejected as false by expert etymologists.
   • Many English folk etymologies involve backronyms.
   • The spelling in 'sovereign' was influenced by folk-etymology association with 'reign'.

   Synonyms:

   etymythology, pseudoetymology, paraetymology, paretymology

2. A modification of a word or its spelling resulting from a misunderstanding of its etymology, as with island, belfry, and hangnail.
   • SURCEASE owes its form and meaning to a remarkable folk-etymology, as has been pointed out by Prof. Skeat:—"It is obvious, from the usual spelling, that this word is popularly supposed to be allied with cease, with which it has no etymological connexion."1882, Abram Smythe Palmer, Folk-etymology: A Dictionary of Verbal Corruptions, London: George Bell, →OCLC, page 654
   • Thus hamburger (whose true etymology is 'city of Hamburg' + er 'someone from') has been reanalyzed as ham + burger 'burger made with ham.' [...] Subsequently, on the analogy of this folk etymology, new forms such as cheeseburger, chiliburger, and plain burger have been created.2006, Shaligram Shukla, Jeff Connor-Linton, “Language change”, in Ralph Fasold, Jeff Connor-Linton, editors, An Introduction to Language and Linguistics, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN...

   Synonyms:

   popular etymology