Neologism

Neologism refers to a newly coined term, word, or phrase, that may be in the process of entering common use, but has not yet been accepted into mainstream language. Neologisms are often created by combining existing words or by giving words new, unique suffixes or prefixes. They can also be formed by blending words, and they can be derived from existing ones in other languages.

Neologisms can be divided into two categories: those that are neosemantic, and those that are neological. Neosemantic neologisms are new words that have a new meaning, while neological neologisms are new words that have the same meaning as existing words.

Neologisms can be created for various reasons, such as to fill a gap in the language, to describe new inventions or phenomena, or for rhetorical, poetic or humorous effects.

History

The term "neologism" was first used in the early 18th century to describe new words or phrases. The term itself is a neologism, created from the Greek words "neo-", meaning "new", and "-logism", meaning "speech" or "word".

Types of Neologisms

There are several types of neologisms, including:

• Blends: These are words created by merging the sounds and meanings of two different words, such as "smog" (from "smoke" and "fog") or "brunch" (from "breakfast" and "lunch").

• Compounds: These are words that are made up of two or more existing words, such as "blackboard" or "firefly".

• Acronyms: These are words formed from the initial letters of a phrase, such as "NASA" (from "National Aeronautics and Space Administration") or "scuba" (from "self-contained underwater breathing apparatus").

• Eponyms: These are words that are derived from a person's name, such as "sandwich" (from the Earl of Sandwich) or "boycott" (from Charles Boycott).

• Borrowings: These are words taken from other languages, such as "piano" (from Italian) or "kindergarten" (from German).

See also

• Etymology
• Linguistics
• Semantics
• Morphology (linguistics)

References

Neologism Resources
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