noun · countable / uncountable · rare

folk etymology

folk etymology · folk etymologies

народная этимология

Volksetymologie

A popular explanation for the origin of a term which has been rejected as false by…A popular explanation for the origin of a term which has been rejected as false by expert etymologists.

/fəʊk ˌɛ.tɪˈmɒl.ə.dʒi/

Meaning

2 senses

(countable, uncountable)A popular explanation for the origin of a term which has been rejected as false by expert etymologists.
Many English folk etymologies involve backronyms.
The spelling in 'sovereign' was influenced by folk-etymology association with 'reign'.
(countable, uncountable)A modification of a word or its spelling resulting from a misunderstanding of its etymology, as with island, belfry, and hangnail.
Volksetymologie
наро́дная этимоло́гияnaródnaja etimológija

More definitions

a popular but erroneous etymology

Translations

7 languages

Русский

By meaning 1

false etymology:

Deutsch

By meaning 1

false etymology:

Origin

English from the 1880s (Abram Smythe Palmer, 1882), a calque of German Volksetymologie (18

English from the 1880s (Abram Smythe Palmer, 1882), a calque of German Volksetymologie (1820s, in 1821 as Volks-Etymologie in J. A. Schmeller's Die Mundarten Bayerns grammatisch dargestellt).

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