folk etymology
noun
languagespecializeduk/ˌfəʊk ˌet.ɪˈmɒl.ə.dʒi/us/ˌfoʊk ˌet̬.ɪˈmɑː.lə.dʒi/[C]
anexplanationfor theoriginof a word that isbelievedto betrue, but is, infact,wrong:
通俗词源,民间词源Brooke'sderivationofmachetefromSpanish"macho" (="male") is afolketymology: the two words areunconnected.布鲁克把弯刀(machete)解释为源自西班牙语的男性(macho),这便是典型的民间词源解释,两个词其实没有任何关系。
[U]
theprocessin which a word ischangedtobecomemore like a morefamiliarword
词的通俗变化Linguistic terms & linguistic style
- affricate
- allophone
- allophony
- anaphor
- anaphora
- chatty
- colloquial
- distributive
- double entendre
- downtoner
- emphatic
- entailment
- etymological
- flowery
- oxymoron
- philological
- polysemy
- portmanteau word
- prescriptivism
- prescriptivist