This document outlines 12 common word formation processes in English: 1) coinage, 2) borrowing, 3) compounding, 4) blending, 5) clipping, 6) acronyms, 7) abbreviations, 8) backformation, 9) conversion, 10) paired word sound play, 11) scale change, and 12) multiple processes. It provides examples to illustrate each process and notes that most words are formed through combining multiple processes.

1. WORDS AND WORD-
FORMATION PROCESSES

3. 1-Coinage
2-Borrowing
3-Compounding
4-Blending
5-Clipping
6-Acronyms
7-Abbreviations
8-Backformation
9-Conversion
10-Paired word
sound play
11-Scale change
12-Multiple
processes
A DOZEN WAYS TO MAKE NEW ENGLISH
WORDS

4. 1. COINAGE (NEOLOGISM)
process of inventing or making up new words
(neologisms) in order to suit certain purposes.
These are often invented by companies with new
products or processes, or taken from names.
“to coin a phrase”
Examples:
xerox
kleenex
Vaseline
yahoo
Google Skype
Nylon

5. 2. BORROWING (LOAN WORDS)
-Words are created by borrowing from another language and
incorporating into English.
-Sometimes the original meaning is altered, and the pronunciation
may change. Since some words were borrowed long ago, it may be
hard to recognize that they were ever not part of English.
Examples:
Tortilla nuance
coup de grace
chaos
kowtow
alchemy
espresso

6. taking over of words from other languages – loan
words: alcohol (Arabic), lilac (Persian), boss (Dutch), pretzel (German),
piano (Italian), croissant (French), robot (Czech), tycoon (Japanese),
yogurt (Turkish), zebra (Bantu), shampoo (Hindi), rodeo (Spanish).
Loan – translations or calque: From German Ubermensch to
superman; also French un gratteciel to
skyscraper.

7. 3. COMPOUNDING
A new word is composed of two free morphemes to
create a new meaning. Examples:
-buyout
-spyware
-textbook
-ringtone - wallpaper
-underestimate
-freefall
-makeover
-overstate
-turnaround
-upstage

8. HOW TO PUNCTUATE?
Sometimes compound words are two distinct words,
sometimes they are hyphenated, and sometimes
they are simply pressed together into a new word.
Hmmmmm…..Jet lag, jet-lag, or jetlag?

9. 4. BLENDING
A new word is created from blends or parts of morphemes
in two other words to form a new single morpheme.
1.Combining beginning part of a word with the end part
of another word to form a new word – gasoline + alcohol –
gasohol;smoke + fog – smog; breakfast + lunch – brunch;
motor + hotel – motel;television + broadcast – telecast
2. Combining beginning part of a word with the beginning
part of another word to form a new word – teleprinter +
exchange – telex; modulator + demodulator – modem

10. 5. CLIPPING (OR SHORTENING)
a word of more than one syllable is reduced
to a shorter form
Examples:
gasoline – gas; advertisement – ad; condominium –
condo;facsimile – fax; telephone – phone; math, lab,
prof, gym, Sam, Sue,Tom, Ed, etc.

11. 6. ACRONYMS
The first letter of a group of words is combined into a
single word. The resulting word is sometimes
capitalized Examples:
– CD(compact disk); VCR (video cassette recorder); PIN
(personal
identification number); ATM (automatic teller
machine); NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization); NASA
(National Aeronautics and Space
Administration);UNESCO(United Nations Educational Scientific
and
Cultural Organization); radar (radio detecting and ranging

12. 7. ABBREVIATIONS
The first letters of a group of words are combined into
a single word whose letter names are pronounced
separately. Examples:
RSVP
R&B
LOL
B&B
ASAP
AKA
RIP

13. 8. BACKFORMATION
a reduction process – Typically, a word of one type (usually a
noun) is reduced to form another word (usually a verb).
Examples: ‘televise’ (from television), ‘donate’ (from donation)
`opt`(from option), ‘babysit’ (from babysitter).
Backformed verbs – work, edit, sculpt, burgle, peddle,
swindle
from nouns – worker, editor, sculptor, burglar,
peddler,swindler by removing agentive morpheme [-er]

14. Hypocorism (favored in Australian and
British English):
First, a longer word is reduced to a single
syllable, then -y or -ie is added to the end –
‘Aussie’ (Australian), ‘telly’ (television), ‘bookie’
(bookmaker),‘brekky (breakfast), ‘hankie
(handkerchief).

15. (9) Conversion:a change in the function of a word (‘functional shift’)
or (‘category change’) without any reduction:
1. N to V: paper – papering; butter – buttered; bottle – bottled;
vacation – vacationing; salt – salted; milk – milked.
2. V to N: guess – a guess; spy – a spy;
run – a run; printout – a printout.
3. V to Adj: see through – see-through material; stand up – standup
comedian.
4. Adj to V: dirty – dirtied; empty – emptied; total – totaling.
5. Adj to N: crazy – a crazy, nasty – a nasty
6. Post conversion semantic change;
a doctor – to doctor a manuscript;
total – to total a car
to run around – a runaround (excuses, delays, deceptions)

16. 10. PAIRED WORD SOUND PLAY
A “double word” is created in two ways:
1-the second word has a change of vowel, usually formed lower in the
mouth.
2-the second type is a rhyme, with the first consonant changing. There
may be a slight onomatopoetic association, but not always.
Changed vowel
rhyme
hip hop
helter skelter
singsong
willy nilly
wishy washy
bow wow
seesaw
hurdy gurdy
splish splash
nitwit

17. 11. SCALE CHANGE
Affixes are added to a base word to indicate its
dimension, sometimes using affixes from other
languages
droplet
nanosecond
hankie
micromanage
operetta
Supersize

18. 12. MULTIPLE PROCESSES
Most words are formed through multiple processes!
-deli is borrowed from German (delicatessen) and then
clipped
-snowball is compounded from two free morphemes to form
a noun, then converted into a verb (snowballed, etc.);
-Internet is a product of clipping (international plus network),
blending (inter+net) and conversion (netiquette)
Loss of capital letters + derivation: ‘waspish’ from WASP
(White Anglo-Saxon Protestant) + suffix -ish.

19. (13) Derivation:
most common word-formation process – accomplished by
adding small ‘bits’ called ‘affixes’ (prefixes, suffixes, and infixes) to
the words.
-Prefixes: co-, ex- re-, un-, pre-, mis-, dis-, co-author, ex-wife,
reexamine, unhappy, prejudge, mislead, disarm.
-Suffixes: -ful, -ness, -ish, -ism, -less
careful, goodness, childish, terrorism, hopeless.
-Infixes: not normally found in English. An example from
Kamhmu, a language spoken in South East Asia, infix -rn-
(to drill) see – srnee (a drill)
(to chisel) toh – trnoh (a chisel)
(to eat with a spoon) hiip – hrniip (a spoon)
(to tie) hoom – hrnoom (a thing with which to tie)

20. Q-Can you identify the different word-formation processes
involved in producing each of the underlined words in these
sentences?
1-Don’t you ever worry that you might get TB?
2-Do you have a xerox machine?
3-That’s really fandamntastic!
4-Shiel still parties every Saturday night.
5-These new skateboards from Zee Designs are kickass.
6-When I'm ill , I want to see a doc, not a vet.
7-The house next door was burgled when I was babysitting the
Smiths` children.
8-I like this old sofa -it is nice and comfy.

21. 9-How much RAM do you have?
10-Your friend Jason is such a techie!
11-You should bookmark that site.
12-We are paying too much attention to bloggers.
13-Subscribers have unlimited downloads.
14-There are some teenage netizens who rarely leave their
rooms.
15-I can`t get some of the students to keyboard more carefully.