affixation
[noun]
a process in morphology where affixes, which are bound morphemes, are attached to a base or root morpheme to create new words or modify the meaning or grammatical function of existing words
affix
[noun]
(grammar) a letter or group of letters added to the end or beginning of a word to change its meaning
contraction
[noun]
a short form of a word or a group of words used instead of the full form
prefix
[noun]
(grammar) a letter or a set of letters that are added to the beginning of a word to alter its meaning and make a new word
suffix
[noun]
(grammar) a letter or a set of letters that are added to the end of a word to alter its meaning and make a new word
acronym
[noun]
an abbreviation formed from the initial letters of a group of words, which can be pronounced as a word
blending
[noun]
a process in language where two or more words are combined to create a new word that retains elements or sounds from the original words
numeronym
[noun]
a type of abbreviation in which a word or phrase is represented by a series of numbers, with the numbers typically corresponding to the number of letters omitted between the first and last letter of the word or phrase
bound morpheme
[noun]
a morpheme that cannot stand alone as an independent word and must be attached to other morphemes to convey meaning
circumfix
[noun]
a type of affix that consists of two parts, one attached to the beginning of a word and the other attached to the end
transfixation
[noun]
a morphological process in which a segment or a group of segments is inserted within a word, typically resulting in a change of the word's meaning or grammatical category
analogy
[noun]
(linguistics) a process by which a new word or inflection is formed according to existing rules and regulations
stem
[noun]
the core or base form of a word to which affixes (prefixes, suffixes, infixes, etc.) can be attached
root
[noun]
the core lexical unit from which words are derived and carries the central meaning of a word
infix
[noun]
a type of bound morpheme that is inserted within a word, rather than being added as a prefix (before) or a suffix (after)
clitic
[noun]
a linguistic element that functions as a word but behaves phonologically or syntactically as a bound morpheme, often attaching to other words and lacking independent stress or full syntactic independence
word formation
[noun]
the process of creating new words or modifying existing ones through morphological and lexical mechanisms in a language
lexeme
[noun]
(linguistics) a basic linguistic unit that is meaningful and underlies a set of words which are related through inflection
derivation
[noun]
a morphological process in language where new words are formed by adding affixes or making internal modifications to a base or root word, resulting in a change in meaning, part of speech, or both
inflection
[noun]
(grammar) a change in the structure of a word, usually adding a suffix, according to its grammatical function
back-formation
[noun]
a word-formation process in which a new word is created by removing what is mistakenly perceived as a derivative affix from an existing word, often resulting in a shorter word with a different part of speech
compounding
[noun]
a word-formation process in which two or more individual words are combined to create a new word, typically resulting in a compound with a meaning that is related to or derived from the meanings of the individual words
conversion
[noun]
a word-formation process in which a word changes its grammatical category or part of speech without any accompanying morphological changes, such as when a noun becomes a verb or a verb becomes a noun
paradigm
[noun]
a systematic arrangement of inflected forms or word forms that represent the different grammatical variations of a word or morpheme
lexicon
[noun]
the complete set of meaningful units in a language or a branch of knowledge, or words or phrases that a speaker uses
clipping
[noun]
a word-formation process in which a word is shortened by removing one or more syllables, usually from the beginning or end, resulting in a new word with the same or similar meaning as the original word
hypocorism
[noun]
a word-formation process in which a word or name is modified to create a shorter, affectionate, or informal version, often used to express familiarity, endearment, or intimacy
morphemization
[noun]
the process of creating or treating a group of phonological segments as a distinct morpheme, which carries meaning and can be combined with other morphemes to form words
agglutination
[noun]
a morphological process in language where affixes are added to a root or base word in a clear, one-to-one fashion, each affix typically expressing a single grammatical or semantic meaning, resulting in a string of affixes attached to the root without any change in the affixes themselves
lexical morpheme
[noun]
a type of morpheme that carries the core lexical or semantic meaning of a word
base
[noun]
the form to which affixes or other morphological operations are added to create a new word
nominalization
[noun]
a process in language where a word or phrase, typically a verb or an adjective, is transformed into a noun, either by adding a suffix or by changing its syntactic function, allowing the expression of concepts or actions as nominal entities
lexicalization
[noun]
a process in which a word or phrase evolves from being a combination of grammatical elements or a non-lexicalized expression to becoming an established lexical unit with its own meaning and usage
diminutive
[noun]
a word form or affix that is added to a base word to express smallness, endearment, or a sense of familiarity
protologism
[noun]
a newly created word or expression that has not yet gained widespread acceptance or recognition within a language community
ghost word
[noun]
a non-existent or erroneous word that has been mistakenly created and entered into a dictionary or other linguistic sources
pseudoword
[noun]
a string of letters or sounds that resemble real words but do not have any actual meaning or lexical representation in a particular language
nonce word
[noun]
a term or expression created and used for a specific occasion or context, typically with a limited or one-time purpose, and not intended for long-term or widespread usage
hapax legomenon
[noun]
a word or form that appears only once within a specific corpus or body of text
morph
[noun]
the smallest meaningful unit of language that carries a distinct semantic or grammatical function and cannot be further divided into smaller parts with independent meaning
morpheme
[noun]
(linguistics) the smallest meaningful unit of a language that does not necessarily stand alone and cannot be divided
functional morpheme
[noun]
a type of morpheme that conveys grammatical information and serves a functional role in a sentence, rather than carrying lexical or content-related meaning
lexical unit
[noun]
(linguistics) a word, a group of words or a part of word that has a meaning and forms the basic element of any language
portmanteau word
[noun]
a new word that is formed by the combination of two other words blending their meaning and sounds
lexis
[noun]
(linguistics) all the words and phrases of a language, including the function words
idiom
[noun]
a group of words or a phrase that has a meaning different from the literal interpretation of its individual words, often specific to a particular language or culture
lexical ambiguity
[noun]
a situation in which a word or phrase has multiple meanings or interpretations, often leading to confusion or uncertainty in understanding the intended message or context
reduplication
[noun]
the process of repeating or duplicating all or part of a word or morpheme to create a new form, often with a change in meaning or grammatical function
blocking
[noun]
a phenomenon where the presence of one linguistic form prevents the occurrence or acceptance of another form with a similar meaning or function
lexical rule
[noun]
a set of principles or patterns that govern the formation or derivation of words and their meanings within a particular language or lexical system
sniglet
[noun]
a playful, made-up word used to describe something for which there is no existing term, often adding humor and creativity to language
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