English Word formation processes

English Word formation processes

There are several word formation processes in the English language, some of which include:

Affixation: Adding prefixes or suffixes to existing words to create new ones, such as "un-" and "-able" in "unbelievable."

Compounding: Combining two or more words to create a new one, such as "breakfast" from "break" and "fast."

Conversion: Using a word from one part of speech as another part of speech, such as "Google" (proper noun) being used as a verb, "to Google."

Backformation: Creating a new word by removing an affix from an existing word, such as "edit" from "editor."

Blending: Combining two or more words to create a new one by taking parts of each word, such as "brunch" from "breakfast" and "lunch."

Acronyms: Creating a word from the first letter of each word in a phrase, such as "NASA" from "National Aeronautics and Space Administration."

Initialism: Creating a word from the first letter of each word in a phrase, and pronouncing each letter separately, such as "FBI" from "Federal Bureau of Investigation."

Reduplication: Repeating a word or part of a word to create a new one, such as "choo-choo" from "train."

These are just a few examples of word formation processes in the English language.