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Hobson-Jobsonism

Hobson-Jobsonism noun: a word or phrase borrowed by one language from another and modified in pronunciation to fit the set of sounds the borrowing language typically uses.

Noun

Hobson-Jobsonism (plural Hobson-Jobsonisms)

  1. (countable) A word or phrase borrowed by one language from another and modified in pronunciation to fit the set of sounds the borrowing language typically uses.
    • One final set of terms of interest are Hobson-Jobsonisms, that is, loanwords that have undergone phonetic assimilation through what is described as ‘striving after meaning’, a term introduced by Yule.2018, James Lambert, “Setting the Record Straight: An In-depth Examination of Hobson-Jobson”, in International Journal of Lexicography, volume 31, number 4, →DOI, page 501

Forms of Hobson-Jobsonism

pluralHobson-Jobsonisms

Origin of Hobson-Jobsonism

From Hobson-Jobson + -ism.

Questions about Hobson-Jobsonism

What does Hobson-Jobsonism mean?
Hobson-Jobsonism means a word or phrase borrowed by one language from another and modified in pronunciation to fit the set of sounds the borrowing language typically uses.
What part of speech is Hobson-Jobsonism?
Hobson-Jobsonism is a noun.
What is the plural of Hobson-Jobsonism?
The plural of Hobson-Jobsonism is Hobson-Jobsonisms.

Words near Hobson-Jobsonism in the dictionary

  1. Hobson
  2. Hobson's
  3. Hobson's choice
  4. Hobson's choices
  5. hobson-jobson
  6. Hobson-Jobsonism
  7. Hobson-Jobsonisms
  8. hobson-jobsons
  9. Hobsonville
  10. hobthrush
  11. hobthrushes

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: Hobson-Jobsonism (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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