Word made out of other words

Total Number of words made out of Other = 31

Other is an acceptable word in Scrabble with 8 points. Other is an accepted word in Word with Friends having 7 points. Other is a 5 letter medium Word starting with O and ending with R. Below are Total 31 words made out of this word.

Anagrams of other

1). throe

4 letter Words made out of other

1). hoer 2). rote 3). tore 4). hero 5). thro

3 letter Words made out of other

1). tho 2). toe 3). tor 4). rot 5). roe 6). rho 7). ret 8). the 9). ort 10). ore 11). eth 12). her 13). het 14). hoe 15). hot

2 letter Words made out of other

1). oe 2). oh 3). or 4). he 5). re 6). to 7). et 8). er 9). eh

Other Meaning :- Either; — used with other or or for its correlative (as either . . . or are now used Different from that which- or the one who- has been specified; not the same; not identical; additional; second of two. Not this- but the contrary; opposite; as- the other side of a river. Alternate; second; — used esp. in connection with every; as- every other day- that is- each alternate day- every second day.

Synonyms of Other:- past, former, early, past, another, else, otherwise, different, new, separate, opposite

Find Words which

Also see:-

  1. Words that start with Other
  2. Words that end with Other
  3. Words Containing Other
  4. Vowel only words
  5. consonant only words
  6. 7 Letter words
  7. Words with J
  8. Words with Z
  9. Words with X
  10. Words with Q
  11. Words that start with Q
  12. Words that start with Z
  13. Words that start with F
  14. Words that start with X

Word Finder Tools

  1. Scrabble finder
  2. Words with friends finder
  3. Anagram Finder
  4. Crossword Solver

Words made from adding one letter in the Beginning of other

bother mother nother pother tother

Words made from adding one letter at the End of other

others

Words made after changing First letter with any other letter in other

ether ither

Note: There are 1 anagrams of the word other. Anagrams are meaningful words made after rearranging all the letters of the word.
Search More words for viewing how many words can be made out of them
Note
There are 2 vowel letters and 3 consonant letters in the word other. O is 15th, T is 20th, H is 8th, E is 5th, R is 18th, Letter of Alphabet series.

Wordmaker is a website which tells you how many words you can make out of any given word in english language. we have tried our best to include every possible word combination of a given word. Its a good website for those who are looking for anagrams of a particular word. Anagrams are words made using each and every letter of the word and is of the same length as original english word. Most of the words meaning have also being provided to have a better understanding of the word. A cool tool for scrabble fans and english users, word maker is fastly becoming one of the most sought after english reference across the web.

For example, therapist may be split into the + rapist, neither of which (arguably) has anything to do with the original words.

Another example would be conflagration: con + flag + ration. Or weather: we + at + her.

Note that words like threesome and purebred would not qualify, because the parts are intentional and contribute to the original word’s meaning.

It seems to me there might be a word for this, which I would describe as «accidental lexical componentry» — but I’m not sure there is one. And if I do think of one I will be sure to add a supplemental (supple + mental) section (sect + ion) to this question (quest + ion).

Helmar's user avatar

Helmar

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asked Dec 29, 2012 at 17:03

Robusto's user avatar

11

They are called redividers or redivided words:

(puzzles) A sequence of letters that can be segmented into two or more different sentences

2001, David B. Searls, “From Jabberwocky to Genome: Lewis Carroll and Computational Biology”, Journal of Computational Biology, volume 8, number 3, page 344:
Latter-day puzzle makers in a direct lineage from Carroll’s tradition and even more extreme instances of segmentation oddities in what are called redividers (Michaelsen, 1998), for example, observing that the sentence “In every ode linger many” can be resegmented to read “I never yodel in Germany” (Shortz, 1997); such cases serve to point out the duality of the problems of gap assignment and boundary detection, and also inject a combinatorial flavor.

They are apparently also known as charades. Quoting from The Dictionary of Wordplay by Dave Morice:

A few wordplay terms were especially problematic. Recently some writers have tried to upgrade some of the older, more traditional terminology. Some believe that pyramid should be replaced with triangle. Some feel that redivider should replace charade. The terms in the dictionary are usually those that have appeared most often in print. Any other terms may be listed as synonyms, or they may appear as separate entries with a brief notation that cross-references them to the older terms.

There are a number of domain names which have become infamous thanks to their … redivisibility:

  • therapistfinder.com
  • penisland.com
  • expertsexchange.com
  • powergenitalia.com
  • whorepresents.com

Community's user avatar

answered Dec 30, 2012 at 5:23

coleopterist's user avatar

coleopteristcoleopterist

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0

As a humorous neologism, you might call them polyparses.

answered Dec 31, 2012 at 17:14

Kit Z. Fox's user avatar

Kit Z. FoxKit Z. Fox

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3

The terms pun, false segmentation, and metanalysis are used in discussion of the phenomenon in p. 132 of Attardo’s Linguistic Theories of Humor, which cites several other works that might be worth consulting.

answered Dec 29, 2012 at 17:12

Word Unscrambler is a tool specifically created to help you find the highest-scoring words for Scrabble, Words with Friends, and other word games. By entering your current letter tiles, Word Unscrambler’s unique search engine will suggest all valid words from the selection given.

Word Unscrambler — Definition and Examples

Word Unscrambler helps you to find the best cheats and highest scoring words for Scrabble, Words with Friends and many other word games.

When playing Words with Friends or Scrabble, you can come across tricky tiles. No matter our skill level, it’s sometimes useful to make use of a tool like unscramble and get a fresh perspective on all playable words.

What is the Word Unscrambler Tool?

In a nutshell, a word unscrambler is a tool that you enter all your letters in your hand and it rearranges them to reveal all possible word combinations.

Some people may worry that this is a way to cheat. However, if all game participants have an option to use a word unscrambler, then there’s certainly an even playing field. A player may decide not to use the unscrambling tool and come up with words on their own. Having said that, they might want to use it afterwards to test themselves and see the full list of potential words that they could have played.

How to Use Word Unscramblers

Simply enter the tiles you are struggling with and we will unscramble the letters into something that not only makes sense but will also reward you with the highest score possible. Think of us as a helping hand that also helps boost your mental dexterity and vocabulary. A bit of jumble solving each day helps you become a top word unscrambler!

Benefits of Using WordTips Word Unscramble

As you can see, there are different ways that a word descrambling device can be employed. And, there are no hard and fast rules about when to use one. What’s more, word unscramblers can be useful in board games like Scrabble and Words with Friends as well as crossword puzzles and games like hangman or Word A Round ─ virtually any word game that you can think of. You can even enjoy using it while playing along at home with a word-based TV game show!

Now that you know a little bit about it, are you interested in some examples of how to use the tool and the benefits it gets you? Here’s what we have for you:

A. Win Word Games

Player A is a Scrabble participant who is baffled by how to get the highest score from the following scrambled letters on their rack ─ ERIKNRG.

When they enter the letters into the word descrambler, it shows a number of words using two or more of the letters. The highest points ─ 15 ─ are for the word GHERKIN that uses all seven letters, not a word that may ordinarily come to mind quickly!

B. Boost Your Vocabulary

Player B is a young person playing Word A Round (a game for ages 10 and up) and they’re trying to be the first to unravel the following scrambled letters around the game card ─ LANIMA (6-letter word), ULHELPF (7-letter word) and RELSQUIR (8-letter word).

By using a word unscrambler, they’ll find these words ─ ANIMAL, HELPFUL and SQUIRREL. Any boost that you can give a child while they’re learning how to play will encourage a love of the game. In turn, they will be excited to try to win and want to play more. This will really enlarge their vocabulary!

Letters vs. Words

Unscramble Letters

Working with such a device can definitely be of benefit when attempting to unscramble letters to make words. Furthermore, our Word Unscrambler is a great word solver. It will accommodate up to 15 letters and locate a truly amazing array of words using all manner of combinations of vowels and constants. You can also use the advanced search to find words that begin or end with specific letters. And, that’s not all! The Word Unscrambler can be of service when you want to check out words that contain certain letters or see words with letters in a particular position. If you need to select words using a distinct dictionary, we’ve got that covered too by including all references that you may need.

Unscramble Words

A word unscrambling tool can, of course, be a support to unscramble jumbled words. The English language is fascinating in its variety. Spellings are not always very intuitive. Silent letters appear and pronunciation emphasis on different syllables can be confusing. It’s said to be one of the most difficult languages in the world to learn! Also, there are words that sound the same but are spelled using different letters and have totally unrelated definitions. Therefore, having our Word Unscrambler at your fingertips can be a real plus when you’re attempting to sort out what words the mixed-up letters reveal.

6 Tips and Tricks to Unscramble Words

There are a number of tips and tricks that can be beneficial to unscramble words from jumbled letters. Everyone has their favorites ─ maybe tried and true ones that have worked for them in the past to make words or some that they find quick and easy to use. Following are some tips and tricks that we suggest to help you find the answers to the puzzle of letters you have before you.

  • Separate the consonants from the vowels.
  • Try to match various consonants with vowels to see what you come up with. All words need to have vowels. Also, while you can have a word with just one vowel, such as “A” or “I”, consonants cannot stand on their own.
  • Look for short words to start with such as those with 2 or 3 letters. Then, find out if you can lengthen these by pluralizing them or adding any letters you have that can change the tense.
  • Pick our any prefixes or suffixes that can extend the length of the words you come up with.
  • Play with a pencil and paper to create a list of possible words. Make sure to check the spelling to ensure that you haven’t just made up a non-existent word!
  • If you’re playing a word game with tiles, move them around to see if a word materializes when you look at different letter combinations.

Top 10 Most Popular Unscrambling Examples

Now that you’re well on your way to understanding what you need to know about word unscrambler tools, you’re probably itching to try out our Word Unscrambler! Before you get going, let us show you some of the most popular unscrambling examples. We’ve focused on 7-letter words here since that’s the number of tiles you have in two of the most well-known word games ─ Scrabble and Words with Friends.

  1. EE CFRPT becomes PERFECT
  2. AU BDHNS becomes HUSBAND
  3. AEE CHTR becomes TEACHER
  4. EEI CCNS becomes SCIENCE
  5. AEI CCLPS becomes SPECIAL
  6. AOU LPPR becomes POPULAR
  7. AE PRE MD becomes PREMADE
  8. ING O NSW becomes SNOWING
  9. RE EO DNZ becomes REZONED
  10. AOE SMEW becomes AWESOME

Everything You Need to Know about Word Unscramblers

Love playing Scrabble®? You know how difficult it is to find words among a bunch of letters. Sure, seeing vowels and consonants is everything some people need to win over any jumble.

However, figuring out a letter combination that forms an anagram isn’t a skill everyone possesses. If you’re one of those requiring word scramble help, I’ve got good news for you. It’s easy to figure out the missing word, even if you aren’t sure about it, especially if you are playing your favorite board game online.

You can discover new ways to make playing the game easy. Read on and discover your way to mastering any jumble.

What is a Word Unscramble Tool?

A word unscramble tool also goes by the name of «letter unscrambler» or «jumble solver.» It’s a tool that finds words hidden within jumbled letters.

An anagram solver lets you find all the words made from a list of letters presented in any order. You only need to locate the online tool and, in the search bar, enter any letters you can think of, including wild cards.

Many word solvers also let you choose a game dictionary. It gives you extra leeway to search with advanced options if you want to cheat with specific rules.

You don’t have to think of them as some unscramble cheat. Instead, using a scramble solver can help you study and practice your next Scrabble® or Words With Friends® match.

How to Unscramble Words and How to Use Advanced Options

Steps and Examples

The first thing you need to do is to find the best tool. Then, the steps are straightforward. Even more so, most tools follow the same steps; you’ll have a hard time getting lost with any scramble solver.

  • Step 1: Enter each of your current letter tiles in the search box. The maximum is fifteen. You can use two blank tiles («?» or SPACE).
  • Step 2: Hit the Search button. You will get to see different words coming up from the generator. Click on any word to see its definition. 

Want to get even better at the popular word game? Alternatively, you can also use Advanced Options to add in more complexity to your favorite word game. So, you can decide what letter or letter pairs the word should start with, or the letter you will find at the end. A wildcard letter can generate many letter ideas.

You can also decide how many letters the word will contain, or the word pattern. For instance, you can search for high-scoring words that have the letter ‘n’ in a specific position. When you are done, all you need to do is hit the search button again.

Then, you can see the words database categorized by the number of letters.

Unscramble Words Methods

There are two approaches when it comes to word scramble help. Each method sets itself apart depending on how you’re solving the anagram.

1. Unscramble Letters

The first approach is to unscramble letter combinations to make words. This way tends to be the most commonly sought-after because it’s easier to score more points and win when you’re not focusing on a specific word.

When we talk about having to unscramble letters to make words, the possibilities are more extensive.

This word scramble help consists of what you learned earlier. The unscrambler tool receives combinations of letters and proceeds to unscramble them into different words.

If your objective is to rely less on that random wildcard and increase your vocabulary, this way is the best.

2. Unscramble Words

This type of word solver is much more restrictive. If you go with it, you’re choosing to unscramble jumbled words. It’s the closest you can get to a literal anagram.

To unscramble this anagram is much more difficult. You’re going after an individual result instead of many possibilities.

Online tools to unscramble jumbled words are usually more difficult to find. Often, the easiest way to unscramble a specific word with online help is to use filters. This way, you can limit the results and narrow them down to what you want.

Tips and Tricks to Unscramble Long Words

Words longer than five letters can be a nightmare. However, there are a few tips we can give you to make your life easier.

Tip 1: Focus on Syllables

Firstly, you can exploit the mighty syllable. People make words from syllables, not letters. You can merge vowels and consonants and form letter combinations (like suffixes and prefixes) that often go together. This way makes it easier to visualize possible words.

Tip 2: Vowels vs Consonants

Another way is to separate consonants and vowels. It often makes answers more noticeable than having everything jumbled.

Tip 3: Separate the Letter S

Lastly, the chances are that your language pluralizes words by adding an S in the end. If you’re playing Scrabble® and have a noisy S, taking up space, you probably can place it as adjacent letters at the end of your next word.

Most Popular Unscrambling Examples

There are ways to make the next puzzle game more exciting. Additionally, you can use these «rules» to focus on particular vocabularies you want to improve.

A. Three Word Finding Examples by Length

The first example is to unscramble anagrams into a set number of random letters using advanced options.

  1. Make 7 letter words with these letters: AHSJFTSIKATL
    Fajitas
    Saltish
    Khalifa
  2. Make 6 letter words with these letters: OKLIYNCMZHOF
    Colony
    Flinch
    Kimono
  3. Make 5 letter words with these letters: MGJDUHSIAOET
    Audio,
    Amuse
    Guest

B. Two Word Solving Examples by Topic

The other way to solve a letter scramble puzzle is to focus on a topic. You can choose specific categories for your anagram, or you can limit your jumble to a certain language like German or French to make things harder!

  1. Find home utilities with these letters: KSIETNCHOFRK
    Kitchen
    Fork
    Knife
  2. Find food-related words with these letters: AJDOQIUESHNM
    Quinoa
    Queso
    Squid

If you are looking to get better in the board game faster, this Word Unscrambler is the one you need to check out – for sure! For Crossword Puzzles lovers, we have a different tool. Try it here when you are stuck in solving any clue.

import java.io.BufferedReader; import java.io.File; import java.io.FileInputStream; import java.io.FileNotFoundException; import java.io.IOException; import java.util.ArrayList; import java.util.Arrays; import java.util.List; import java.util.StringTokenizer; import trieADT.Trie; public class LongestWord{ private static Trie trie = new Trie(); public static void main(String[] args) { BufferedReader br = null; try { String[] sortedWords = null; String[] longestWords = null; List<String> wordArray = new ArrayList<String>(); // Use command line to enter file name // Reading data from file if(args.length == 0) { System.out.println(«Usage: java LongestWords filename»); return; } byte[] data = new byte[(int) new File(args[0]).length()]; // Read data from the file into buffer and close the file FileInputStream file = new FileInputStream(args[0]); file.read(data); file.close(); StringTokenizer tokens = new StringTokenizer(new String(data)); // Create an array list of tokens returned by StringTokenizer (actually our words) while(tokens.hasMoreTokens()) { wordArray.add(tokens.nextToken()); } // Print the number of words in the file System.out.println(«Total number of words in file : « +wordArray.size()); // Convert array list to an array of string sortedWords = (String[])wordArray.toArray(new String[wordArray.size()]); // Sort the words based on length Arrays.sort(sortedWords, new StringLengthSort()); // Populate trie ADT that we created for(String word : sortedWords) { trie.insert(word); } /* Algorithm Start */ //start time long startTime = System.nanoTime(); // Find all the words made of other words longestWords = LongestWordsContainingOtherWords(sortedWords); //Print the longest word and the number of words made of other words System.out.println(«Longest Word made of other words: «+ longestWords[0]); System.out.println(«Total number of words that can be made of other words : « +longestWords.length); // end time long endTime = System.nanoTime(); //Print the time taken by the system for this program System.out.println(«Took «+(endTimestartTime) + » ns»); /* Algorithm End */ } catch (FileNotFoundException e) { // TODO Auto-generated catch block System.out.println(«Please enter a correct filename!»); //e.printStackTrace(); } catch (IOException e) { // TODO Auto-generated catch block e.printStackTrace(); }finally { try { if (br != null) br.close(); } catch (IOException e) { e.printStackTrace(); } } } public static String[] LongestWordsContainingOtherWords(String[] list) { List<String> wordList = new ArrayList<String>(); for(String word: list) { //System.out.println(word); if(isRequiredWord(word,true)) { wordList.add(word); } } // For debugging // for(int i=0;i<1;i++) // { // System.out.println(list[i]); // System.out.println(isRequiredWord(list[i],true)); // // wordList.add(list[i]); // // // } return( (String[])wordList.toArray(new String[wordList.size()]) ); } public static boolean isRequiredWord(String word,boolean fullword) { // Remove the word so that the word is not matched to itself to find the longest word if (fullword) { trie.delete(word); } // Loop over the length of the word for(int i=0;i<word.length();i++) { //System.out.println(word.substring(0, i+1)); if(trie.search(word.substring(0, i+1))) { if(i+1==word.length() || isRequiredWord(word.substring(i+1,word.length()),false) ) { return true; } } } //System.out.println(false); if(fullword) { trie.insert(word); } return false; } }

Richard’s answer will work well in many cases, but it can take exponential time: this will happen if there are many segments of the string W, each of which can be decomposed in multiple different ways. For example, suppose W is abcabcabcd, and the other words are ab, c, a and bc. Then the first 3 letters of W can be decomposed either as ab|c or as a|bc… and so can the next 3 letters, and the next 3, for 2^3 = 8 possible decompositions of the first 9 letters overall:

a|bc|a|bc|a|bc
a|bc|a|bc|ab|c
a|bc|ab|c|a|bc
a|bc|ab|c|ab|c
ab|c|a|bc|a|bc
ab|c|a|bc|ab|c
ab|c|ab|c|a|bc
ab|c|ab|c|ab|c

All of these partial decompositions necessarily fail in the end, since there is no word in the input that contains W’s final letter d — but his algorithm will explore them all before discovering this. In general, a word consisting of n copies of abc followed by a single d will take O(n*2^n) time.

We can improve this to O(n^2) worst-case time (at the cost of O(n) space) by recording extra information about the decomposability of suffixes of W as we go along — that is, suffixes of W that we have already discovered we can or cannot match to word sequences. This type of algorithm is called dynamic programming.

The condition we need for some word W to be decomposable is exactly that W begins with some word X from the set of other words, and the suffix of W beginning at position |X|+1 is decomposable. (I’m using 1-based indices here, and I’ll denote a substring of a string S beginning at position i and ending at position j by S[i..j].)

Whenever we discover that the suffix of the current word W beginning at some position i is or is not decomposable, we can record this fact and make use of it later to save time. For example, after testing the first 4 decompositions in the 8 listed earlier, we know that the suffix of W beginning at position 4 (i.e., abcabcd) is not decomposable. Then when we try the 5th decomposition, i.e., the first one starting with ab, we first ask the question: Is the rest of W, i.e. the suffix of W beginning at position 3, decomposable? We don’t know yet, so we try adding c to get ab|c, and then we ask: Is the rest of W, i.e. the suffix of W beginning at position 4, decomposable? And we find that it has already been found not to be — so we can immediately conclude that no decomposition of W beginning with ab|c is possible either, instead of having to grind through all 4 possibilities.

Assuming for the moment that the current word W is fixed, what we want to build is a function f(i) that determines whether the suffix of W beginning at position i is decomposable. Pseudo-code for this could look like:

- Build a trie the same way as Richard's solution does.
- Initialise the array KnownDecomposable[] to |W| DUNNO values.

f(i):
    - If i == |W|+1 then return 1.  (The empty suffix means we're finished.)
    - If KnownDecomposable[i] is TRUE or FALSE, then immediately return it.
    - MAIN BODY BEGINS HERE
    - Walk through Richard's trie from the root, following characters in the
      suffix W[i..|W|].  Whenever we find a trie node at some depth j that
      marks the end of a word in the set:
        - Call f(i+j) to determine whether the rest of W can be decomposed.
        - If it can (i.e. if f(i+j) == 1):
            - Set KnownDecomposable[i] = TRUE.
            - Return TRUE.
    - If we make it to this point, then we have considered all other
      words that form a prefix of W[i..|W|], and found that none of
      them yield a suffix that can be decomposed.
    - Set KnownDecomposable[i] = FALSE.
    - Return FALSE.

Calling f(1) then tells us whether W is decomposable.

By the time a call to f(i) returns, KnownDecomposable[i] has been set to a non-DUNNO value (TRUE or FALSE). The main body of the function is only run if KnownDecomposable[i] is DUNNO. Together these facts imply that the main body of the function will only run as many times as there are distinct values i that the function can be called with. There are at most |W|+1 such values, which is O(n), and outside of recursive calls, a call to f(i) takes at most O(n) time to walk through Richard’s trie, so overall the time complexity is bounded by O(n^2).

Where do new words come from? How do you figure out their histories?

An etymology is the history of a linguistic form, such as a word; the same term is also used for the study
of word histories. A dictionary etymology tells us what is known of an English word before it became the word entered
in that dictionary. If the word was created in English, the etymology shows, to whatever extent is not already
obvious from the shape of the word, what materials were used to form it. If the word was borrowed into English,
the etymology traces the borrowing process backward from the point at which the word entered English to the
earliest records of the ancestral language. Where it is relevant, an etymology notes words from other languages that
are related («akin») to the word in the dictionary entry, but that are not in the direct line of borrowing.


How New Words are Formed

An etymologist, a specialist in the study of etymology, must know a good deal about the history of English
and also about the relationships of sound and meaning and their changes over time that underline the reconstruction
of the Indo-European language family. Knowledge is also needed of the various processes by which words are created
within Modern English; the most important processes are listed below.


Borrowing

A majority of the words used in English today are of foreign origin. English still derives much of its vocabulary
from Latin and Greek, but we have also borrowed words from nearly all of the languages in Europe. In the modern
period of linguistic acquisitiveness, English has found vocabulary opportunities even farther afield. From the
period of the Renaissance voyages through the days when the sun never set upon the British Empire and up to
the present, a steady stream of new words has flowed into the language to match the new objects and
experiences English speakers have encountered all over the globe. Over 120 languages are on record as sources
of present-day English vocabulary.


Shortening or Clipping

Clipping (or truncation) is a process whereby an appreciable chunk of an existing word is omitted,
leaving what is sometimes called a stump word. When it is the end of a word that is lopped off, the process
is called back-clipping: thus examination was docked to create exam and gymnasium
was shortened to form gym. Less common in English are fore-clippings, in which the beginning of a
word is dropped: thus phone from telephone. Very occasionally, we see a sort of fore-and-aft
clipping, such as flu, from influenza.


Functional Shift

A functional shift is the process by which an existing word or form comes to be used with another
grammatical function (often a different part of speech); an example of a functional shift would be the development
of the noun commute from the verb commute.


Back-formation

Back-formation occurs when a real or supposed affix (that is, a prefix or suffix) is removed from a word to
create a new one. For example, the original name for a type of fruit was cherise, but some thought that word
sounded plural, so they began to use what they believed to be a singular form, cherry, and a new word was
born. The creation of the the verb enthuse from the noun enthusiasm is also an example of a
back-formation.


Blends

A blend is a word made by combining other words or parts of words in such a way that they overlap (as
motel from motor plus hotel) or one is infixed into the other (as chortle from
snort plus chuckle — the -ort- of the first being surrounded by the ch-…-le
of the second). The term blend is also sometimes used to describe words like brunch, from
breakfast plus lunch, in which pieces of the word are joined but there is no actual overlap. The
essential feature of a blend in either case is that there be no point at which you can break the word with everything
to the left of the breaking being a morpheme (a separately meaningful, conventionally combinable element) and
everything to the right being a morpheme, and with the meaning of the blend-word being a function of the meaning of
these morphemes. Thus, birdcage and psychohistory are not blends, but are instead compounds.


Acronymic Formations

An acronym is a word formed from the initial letters of a phrase. Some acronymic terms still clearly show their
alphabetic origins (consider FBI), but others are pronounced like words instead of as a succession of
letter names: thus NASA and NATO are pronounced as two syllable words. If the form is written
lowercase, there is no longer any formal clue that the word began life as an acronym: thus radar (‘radio
detecting and ranging’). Sometimes a form wavers between the two treatments: CAT scan pronounced either like
cat or C-A-T.

NOTE: No origin is more pleasing to the general reader than an acronymic one. Although acronymic etymologies are
perennially popular, many of them are based more in creative fancy than in fact. For an example of such an alleged
acronymic etymology, see the article on posh.


Transfer of Personal or Place Names

Over time, names of people, places, or things may become generalized vocabulary words. Thus did forsythia
develop from the name of botanist William Forsyth, silhouette from the name of Étienne de Silhouette, a
parsimonious French controller general of finances, and denim from serge de Nîmes (a fabric made
in Nîmes, France).


Imitation of Sounds

Words can also be created by onomatopoeia, the naming of things by a more or less exact reproduction of the
sound associated with it. Words such as buzz, hiss, guffaw, whiz, and
pop) are of imitative origin.


Folk Etymology

Folk etymology, also known as popular etymology, is the process whereby a word is altered so as to
resemble at least partially a more familiar word or words. Sometimes the process seems intended to «make sense of» a
borrowed foreign word using native resources: for example, the Late Latin febrigugia (a plant with medicinal
properties, etymologically ‘fever expeller’) was modified into English as feverfew.


Combining Word Elements

Also available to one who feels the need for a new word to name a new thing or express a new idea is the very
considerable store of prefixes, suffixes, and combining forms that already exist in English. Some of these are native
and others are borrowed from French, but the largest number have been taken directly from Latin or Greek, and they
have been combined in may different ways often without any special regard for matching two elements from the same
original language. The combination of these word elements has produced many scientific and technical terms of Modern
English.


Literary and Creative Coinages

Once in a while, a word is created spontaneously out of the creative play of sheer imagination. Words such as
boondoggle and googol are examples of such creative coinages, but most such inventive brand-new
words do not gain sufficiently widespread use to gain dictionary entry unless their coiner is well known enough so
his or her writings are read, quoted, and imitated. British author Lewis Carroll was renowned for coinages such
as jabberwocky, galumph, and runcible, but most such new words are destined to pass in
and out of existence with very little notice from most users of English.

An etymologist tracing the history of a dictionary entry must review the etymologies at existing main entries and
prepare such etymologies as are required for the main entries being added to the new edition. In the course of the
former activity, adjustments must sometimes be made either to incorporate a useful piece of information that has
been previously overlooked or to review the account of the word’s origin in light of new evidence. Such evidence
may be unearthed by the etymologist or may be the product of published research by other scholars. In writing new
etymologies, the etymologist must, of course, be alive to the possible languages from which a new term may have
been created or borrowed, and must be prepared to research and analyze a wide range of documented evidence and
published sources in tracing a word’s history. The etymologist must sift theories, often-conflicting theories of
greater or lesser likelihood, and try to evaluate the evidence conservatively but fairly to arrive at the soundest
possible etymology that the available information permits.

When all attempts to provide a satisfactory etymology have failed, an etymologist may have to declare that a word’s
origin is unknown. The label «origin unknown» in an etymology seldom means that the etymologist is unaware of various
speculations about the origin of a term, but instead usually means that no single theory conceived by the etymologist
or proposed by others is well enough backed by evidence to include in a serious work of reference, even when qualified
by «probably» or «perhaps.»

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