 “Pulled
away, detached” (L.)
 Something
 Examples:
detached form physical or concrete reality
love, hate, emotion
ABSTRACT WORD
 Formed
word
from the initial components of a phrase or
 Examples:

NASA

Laser (Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation)
ACRONYM
 Element
added to the beginning or end of a word
 Examples:
AFFIX
prefix (re-, in-), suffix (-ing, -ology)
 The
act of comparing two things that are alike in some
way
 Example:

Kitten is to cat as puppy is to dog.
ANALOGY
 Has
the opposite meaning of a word
 Examples:

Beautiful/ugly

Tall/short
ANTONYM
 “take
away” (G)
 The
loss of one or more sounds from the beginning of a
word
 Examples:

[k]nife

Escape goat = scape goat
APHERESIS
 Phonological
process by which one sound becomes
more like a nearby sound
 Example:

Latin in (not) + possibilis (possible) = impossibilis (impossible)
ASSIMILATION
 Formed
 Also
from two or more other words
called a portmanteau
 Examples

Air + port = airport

Smoke + fog = smog
BLEND WORD
 Word
formation process which consists in the
reduction of a word to one of its parts
 A.k.a.
truncation
 Examples:

ad = advertisement

Exam = examination
CLIPPED WORD
 Speech
or informal language
 Examples:

Contractions

“Thanks” vs. “Thank you”
COLLOQUIAL LANGUAGE
 Identify
things and events that can be measured and
observed
 Examples:
cat, desk, egg
CONCRETE WORD
 The
original parts of a word
 Derivational
Suffixes: added on to the end of a word
to create a word that has been derived from the
original word

Ex: teach > teacher; care > careful
DERIVATIVE
 Particular

form of a language
Generally based on race, class, education, region
 Separate
from “regional” because it has generally
evolved separately from the dominant language

For instance, a community that has been isolated will
evolve English with differences in not only accents, but
grammatical structures and word usages as well.
 Example:

American English vs. British English

Amish Dutch vs. Dutch
DIALECT
 Affix
added to the end that means small
 -(i)cule:
 -el:
molecule, muscle, particle
novel, morsel, panel
 -ole,
-ule: capsule, globule, scruple
DIMINUTIVE SUFFIX
 Phonological
process by which similar consonants or
vowels become less similar
 Example:

OF marbre became English “marble”
DISSIMILATION
 Two
or more words in the same language have
different phonological forms but the same
etymological root
 Often,
but not always, the variants have entered the
language through different routes
 shadow,
shade and shed (all three from Old
English sceadu "shadow, shade")
DOUBLET
 the
study of the origin of words
 Example:
this class
ETYMOLOGY
A
mild or indirect word or expression substituted for
one considered to be too harsh or blunt when
referring to something unpleasant or embarrassing
 Examples:

You aren’t poor, you are economically disadvantaged.

You aren’t broke, you have temporary negative cash flow.
EUPHEMISM
 involves
a figure of speech or metaphor
 Example:
stubborn as a mule
FIGURATIVE WORD