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In etymology, back-formation refers to the process of creating a new lexeme (less precisely, a new "word") by removing actual or supposed affixes. The resulting neologism is called a back-formation. Back-formations are shortened words created from longer words, thus back-formations may be viewed as a sub-type of clipping.

For example, the noun resurrection was borrowed from Latin, and the verb resurrect was then backformed hundreds of years later from it by removing the -ion suffix. This segmentation of resurrection into resurrect + ion was possible because English had many examples of Latinate words that had verb and verb+-ion pairs — in these pairs the -ion suffix is added to verb forms in order to create nouns (such as, insert/insertion, project/projection, etc.).

Back formation may be similar to the reanalyses of folk etymologies when it rests on an erroneous understanding of the morphology of the longer word. For example, the singular noun asset is a back-formation from the plural assets. However, assets is originally not a plural; it is a loan-word from Anglo-Norman asetz (modern French assez). The -s was reanalyzed as a plural suffix.

Many words came into English by this route: Pease was once a mass noun but was reinterpreted as a plural, leading to the back-formation pea. The noun statistic was likewise a back-formation from the field of study statistics. In Britain the verb burgle came into use in the 19th century as a back-formation from burglar (which can be compared to the North America verb burglarize formed by suffixation).

Even though many English words are formed this way, new coinages may sound strange, and are often used for humorous effect. For example, gruntled or pervious (from disgruntled and impervious) would be considered mistakes today, and used only in humorous contexts. The comedian George Gobel regularly used original back-formations in his humorous monologues. Bill Bryson mused that the English language would be richer if we could call a tidy-haired person shevelled - as an opposite to dishevelled.

Frequently back-formations begin in colloquial use and only gradually become accepted. For example, enthuse (from enthusiasm) is gaining popularity, though it is still considered substandard by some today.

The immense celebrations in Britain at the news of the relief of the Siege of Mafeking briefly created the verb to maffick, meaning to celebrate both extravagantly and publicly. "Maffick" was a back-formation from Mafeking, a place-name that was treated humorously as a gerund or participle.

• ablute from ablution
• aborigine as a mistaken singular for aborigines (correct L. sing. is aboriginal) [1]
• accrete from accretion (root: accrescere) [2]
• acculturate from acculturation [3]
• admix from admixture
• adolesce from adolescence
• adulate from adulation [4]
• advect from advection [5]
• aesthete from aesthetic [6]
• air-condition from air conditioning [7]
• alm from alms
• arch ("to practice archery") from archery
• arm (weapon) from arms (from L. arma)
• attrit from attrition [8]
• auto-destruct from auto-destruction (cf. auto-destroy)
• automate from automation [9]
• aviate from aviation [10]
• babysit from babysitter [11]
• back-form from back-formation
• bartend from bartender [12]
• benefact from benefactor (and also the derived benefactee, cf. benefactor)
• bibliograph from bibliography
• bicep from biceps (non-standard) [13]
• biograph from biography
• blockbust from blockbuster [14]
• book-keep from book-keeping
• brainwash from brainwashing [15]
• bulldoze from bulldozer [16]
• bum possibly from bummer [17]
• burgle from burglar [18]
• bus ("to clear dirty dishes from table") from busboy [19]
• bushwhack from bushwhacker [20]
• buttle from butler [21]
• cadge from cadger [22]
• caretake from caretaker
• cavitate from cavitation [23]
• cherry from Old French cerise [24]
• choate from inchoate
• choreograph from choreography [25]
• claustrophobe from claustrophobia
• cohese from cohesion (cf. cohere)
• commentate from commentator [26]
• committal from non-committal
• complicit from complicity [27]
• computerize from computerized
• contracept from contraception (cf. rare contraceive)
• contrapt from contraption
• convect from convection [28]
• conversate from conversation or conversing {http://www.dictionary.reference.com/browse/conversate
• cose from cosy
• couth from uncouth [29]
• co-vary from covariation
• crank (noun) from cranky
• creep (as a noun for a person) from creepy
• cross multiply from cross multiplication
• cross-refer from cross-reference [30]
• curate from curator [31]
• custom-make from custom-made
• dapple from dappled [32]
• darkle from darkling [33]
• decadent from decadence [34]
• deconstruct from deconstruction [35]
• dedifferentiate from dedifferentiation [36]
• demarcate from demarcation [37]
• destruct from destruction [38]
• diagnose from diagnosis [39]
• diffract from diffraction [40]
• dinge from dingy [41]
• diplomat from diplomatic [42]
• dishevel from disheveled [43]
• donate from donation [44]
• drear from dreary
• drowse from drowsy (possibly a backformation)
• dry-clean from dry cleaning [45]
• eave from eaves [46]
• edit from editor (from L. stem edere, to bring forth) [47], [48]
• electrocute from electrocution [49]
• elocute from elocution [50]
• emote from emotion [51]
• enthuse from enthusiasm [52]
• ept from inept
• escalate from escalator [53]
• eutrophicate from eutrophication
• extrapose from extraposition [54]
• fine-tune from fine tuning [55]
• flab from flabby [56]
• flappable from unflappable [57]
• flake ("eccentric person") from flaky)
• floss ("to show off") from flossy [58]
• fluoresce from fluorescence [59]
• free-associate from free association (backformed adjective-verb compound)
• funk (quality of music) from funky [60]
• gamble from gambler [61]
• ghostwrite from ghostwriter [62]
• gid from giddy [63]
• gnarl from gnarled [64]
• godsend from god-sent [65]
• greed from greedy (the noun was originally "greediness") [66]
• grid from gridiron [67]
• grovel from groveling [68]
• grunge from grungy [69]
• gruntle from disgruntle [70]
• handwrite from handwriting [71]
• hard-boil from hard-boiled [72]
• hawk (meaning "to sell") from hawker [73]
• haze from hazy [74]
• headhunt from headhunter
• headquarter from headquarters [75]
• helicopt from helicopter
• housebreak from housebroken [76]
• houseclean from housecleaning [77]
• housekeep from housekeeper [78]
• ideologue from ideology [79]
• incent from incentive [80]
• indice from indices (cf. index)
• injure from injury [81]
• intercept from interception (possibly a backformation)
• interfluve from interfluvial [82]
• interlineate from interlinear
• intuit from intuition [83]
• isolate from isolated [84]
• jell from jelly [85]
• jerry-build from jerry-built [86]
• kempt from unkempt [87]
• kidnap from kidnapper [88]
• kudo from kudos (non-standard) [89]
• lase from laser [90]
• laze from lazy [91]
• lech from lecher [92]
• legislate from legislator [93]
• liaise from liaison [94]
• loaf (meaning "to be idle") from loafer [95]
• logroll from logrolling [96]
• luminesce from luminescent [97]
• manipulate from manipulation [98]
• mase from maser
• mix from mixt (adj. from Old French, misconstrued as past participle of verb) [99]
• mottle from motley [100]
• moonlight (the verb, work on second job) from moonlighter [101]
• multimillion from multimillionaire
• nitpick from nit-picking [102]
• notate from notation [103]
• obsess (meaning "to behave obsessively") from obsessive
• one-up or one-upman from one-upmanship [104]
• opine from opinion [105]
• orate from oration [106]
• orientate from orientation [107]
• panhandle (meaning "to accost") from panhandler [108]
• paramedic from paramedical
• partake from partaker [109]
• pea from Middle English pease [110]
• peddle from peddler [111]
• peeve from peevish [112]
• pettifog from pettifogger [113]
• phosphoresce from phosphorescent [114]
• preempt from preemption [115]
• presentate from presentation
• procéss from procession [116]
• prodigal from prodigality [117]
• proliferate from proliferation [118]
• proofread from proofreader [119]
• quadrumvir from quadrumvirate [120]
• raunch from raunchy [121]
• reminisce from reminiscence [122]
• resurrect from resurrection [123]
• rotovate from rotovator
• sass (impudence) from sassy [124]
• sculpt from sculptor [125]
• secrete (meaning "to produce and emit") from secretion [126]
• secretive from secretiveness [127]
• sedate (the verb) from sedative [128]
• self-destruct from self-destruction (cf. self-destroy) [129]
• semantic (adjective) from semantics
• shoplift from shoplifter [130]
• sightsee from sightseeing [131]
• sleaze from sleazy [132]
• sleepwalk from sleepwalking [133]
• smarm from smarmy [134]
• soft-land from soft landing (backformed adjective-noun compound)
• spectate from spectator [135]
• stargaze from stargazer [136]
• stave (the noun) from staves [137]
• steamroll from steamroller [138]
• stridulate from stridulation [139]
• suckle from suckling [140]
• sulk from sulky [141]
• summate from summation [142]
• sunburn (the verb) from sunburned [143]
• superannuate from superannuated [144]
• surreal from surrealism [145]
• surveil from surveillance [146]
• swashbuckle from swashbuckler [147]
• swindle from swindler [148]
• tase from taser
• televise from television [149]
• tongue-lash from tongue-lashing [150]
• transcript (verb) from transcription (cf. verb transcribe)
• tricep from triceps
• trickle-irrigate from trickle-irrigation (possibly backformed from verb-noun compound but may also be verb-verb compound)
• tweeze from tweezers [151]
• typewrite from typewriter [152]
• upholster from upholstery [153]
• vinify from vinification [154]
• vivisect from vivisection [155]
• wiretap from wiretapper [156]

Back-formations of borrowed terms generally do not follow the rules of the original language. For example Homo sapiens is Latin for thinking man. As with all Linnaean species names, this is singular in Latin (plural would be homines sapientes) but it is sometimes mistakenly treated as plural in English, with the corresponding singular back-formation Homo sapien. Similarly antipodes, borrowed from Greek via Latin, has the apparent form of a plural noun, and is sometimes treated as such, with antipode taken to mean "an antipodal point". The final podes is indeed plural, meaning feet, and the corresponding singular would be transliterated as pous (foot). However antipodes itself is a compound of anti (opposite) and podes (feet). As such, it is not a plural noun at all, and the singular *antipous, if it existed at all, would mean "a substitute foot." ("Opposite a foot" would be anti poda.)

Some regard such divergence as incorrect, or as a mark of ignorance. Others assert that a language is determined by its usage and that strictly applying such a principle of correctness would render English a highly irregular blend of Anglo-Saxon, Latin, French and every other language from which it had ever borrowed.

• folk etymology
• backronym
• retronym
• juncture loss