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Etymology

Meanings and phrases

etymology

Pronunciation American British Australian Indian
n.
  1. a history of a word
  2. the study of the sources and development of words

folk etymology

Pronunciation American British Australian Indian
n.
  1. a popular but erroneous etymology
E.g.
  • This account is used to explain the name "Seligenstadt" by folk etymology.
  • It is plausible that "Fosite" is the older name and "Forseti" a folk etymology.
  • Some loanwords have been restructured by folk etymology to resemble native Czech words (e.g.
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