Concepts

Question 1

Etymology

Answer 1

The study of the origin and history of words. It helps us understand how words have evolved over time.

Question 2

Coinage

Answer 2

(inventing new words). It is the creation of completely new words, often from product names. Examples: Google, Aspirin, Granola.

Question 3

A type of coinage

Answer 3

(Eponyms). These are words derived from names of people or places.

Question 4

Borrowing

Answer 4

(Taking words from other languages). It is adopting words from other languages, sometimes altering their meanings.

Question 5

A type of borrowing

Answer 5

(Loan translations - calques). These are direct translations from other languages.

Question 6

Compounding

Answer 6

It is combining two words to form a new word.

Question 7

Blending

Answer 7

it is combining parts of two words into a single form.

Question 8

Clipping

Answer 8

It is shortening longer words into simpler forms.

Question 9

A type of clipping

Answer 9

(Hypocorism - which is popular in Australian/British English). It means reducing a word to one syllable and adding -y, -ie or in some rare cases i.

Question 10

Backformation

Answer 10

It is a specialized type of reduction where a word (usually a noun) is shortened to form a word of another type (usually a verb).

Question 11

Conversion

Answer 11

It is a process where a word changes its grammatical category without any changes in form (e.g., from noun to verb).

Question 12

Acronyms

Answer 12

Acronyms are words formed from the initial letters of a phrase or set of words.

Question 13

Derivation

Answer 13

It is the process of creating new words by adding affixes (prefixes, suffixes) to existing words.

Question 14

What is the difference between acronyms and initialisms?

Answer 14

Acronyms are words made from the first letters of a group of words. But, you say them as a whole new word. Example: NASA stands for National Aeronautics and Space Administration, but we say it like one word: “nah-sah”.
Initialisms are also made from the first letters of words, but you say each letter separately. Example: FBI stands for Federal Bureau of Investigation, but we say it as “F-B-I”, not as a single word.

Question 15

The key difference between acronyms and initialisms.

Answer 15

Acronyms: you say it as a new word (NASA).
Initialisms. you say each letter separately (FBI, BBC).

Question 16

Difference between blend and compound words.

Answer 16

Compounding: you combine full words without dropping letters (like “notebook” from note + book).
Blending: you merge parts of two words (like “smog” from smoke + fog).

Question 17

What is lexicon?

Answer 17

It is Greek for dictionary. Mental dictionary of someone.

Question 18

What is morphology?

Answer 18

It is the study of form (phorm). We are going to study the form or shape of words.

Question 19

What is the difference between etymology and entomology?

Answer 19

Etymology is the study of the origin and history of words. It looks at how words evolved over time, their original meaning, and the languages they came from.
Entomology is the scientific study of insects.