| 词组 | back-formations |
| 释义 | back-formations Back-formation is a term used by linguists, lexicographers, and etymologists to describe a word formed by removing an affix—real or supposed— from an already existing word. Back-formation is an active process of word-formation: the front matter of 12,000 Words mentions such relatively recent examples as gangle from gangling, läse from laser, free-associate from free association, and one-up from one-upmanship. It has been an active process for quite a long time and has given us burgle (1870) from burglar, peddle (1532) from peddler, grovel (1593) from groveling, enthuse (1827) from enthusiasm, diagnose (ca. 1860) from diagnosis, donate (1785) from donation, televise(1927) from television, and typewrite (1887) from typewriter. Verbs are not the only kinds of words produced by back-formation. Another fairly numerous group consists of singular nouns formed from real or supposed plurals. Among these are statistic (1898) from statistics, pea (1666) from pease, and kudo (1926) from kudos. Back-formations are mentioned here because a number of them have irritated commentators on usage from time to time. Some—for instance burgle, donate, and enthuse—have been carried from book to book for years, while others, such as kudo, are of more recent vintage. You will find several of these treated at their own alphabetical places. |
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英语用法大全包含2888条英语用法指南，基本涵盖了全部常用英文词汇及语法点的翻译及用法，是英语学习的有利工具。