"folk etymology" meaning in English

See folk etymology in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

Forms: folk etymologies [plural]
Etymology: 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). Etymology templates: {{calque|en|de|Volksetymologie|nocap=1}} calque of German Volksetymologie Head templates: {{en-noun|~}} folk etymology (countable and uncountable, plural folk etymologies)
  1. A misunderstanding of the etymology of a word based on an inexpert analysis; an etymology that incorrectly explains the origin of a word based on the inadequate judgement of a common speaker of the language instead of etymological expertise. Tags: countable, uncountable Synonyms: fake etymology, false etymology, pseudoetymology, paraetymology, paretymology Translations (false etymology): ժողովրդական ստուգաբանություն (žoġovrdakan stugabanutʿyun) (Armenian), etimologiezh-pobl [feminine] (Breton), etimologia popular [feminine] (Catalan), 俗詞源學 (Chinese Mandarin), 俗词源学 (súcíyuánxué) (Chinese Mandarin), 望文生義 (Chinese Mandarin), 望文生义 (wàngwénshēngyì) (Chinese Mandarin), lidová etymologie [feminine] (Czech), folkeetymologi [common-gender] (Danish), volksetymologie [feminine] (Dutch), popola etimologio (Esperanto), paretologio (Esperanto), kansanetymologia (Finnish), étymologie populaire [feminine] (French), etimoloxía popular [feminine] (Galician), ხალხური ეტიმოლოგია (xalxuri eṭimologia) (Georgian), Volksetymologie [feminine] (German), παρετυμολογία (paretymología) [feminine] (Greek), népi etimológia (Hungarian), etimologi rakyat (Indonesian), etimologi populer (Indonesian), falsa etimologia [feminine] (Italian), pseudoetimologia [feminine] (Italian), paretimologia [feminine] (Italian), 民間語源 (minkan gogen) (alt: みんかんごげん) (Japanese), etimologi rakyat (Malay), folkeetymologi [masculine] (Norwegian Bokmål), folkeetymologi [masculine] (Norwegian Nynorsk), etymologia ludowa [feminine] (Polish), etymologia popularna [feminine] (Polish), etymologia potoczna [feminine] (Polish), pseudoetymologia [feminine] (Polish), etimologia popular [feminine] (Portuguese), pseudoetimologia [feminine] (Portuguese), etimologie populară [feminine] (Romanian), наро́дная этимоло́гия (naródnaja etimológija) [feminine] (Russian), pučka etimologija [feminine] (Serbo-Croatian), etimuluggìa fausa [feminine] (Sicilian), paretimuluggìa (Sicilian), ľudová etymológia [feminine] (Slovak), etimología popular [feminine] (Spanish), paretología [feminine] (Spanish), folketymologi [common-gender] (Swedish), palamuhatang-bayan (Tagalog), từ nguyên dân gian (Vietnamese), camdarddiad poblogaidd [masculine] (Welsh)
    Sense id: en-folk_etymology-en-noun-9CiDwHaV Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, English entries with language name categories using raw markup, English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 72 28 Disambiguation of English entries with language name categories using raw markup: 76 24 Disambiguation of English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys: 73 27 Disambiguation of 'false etymology': 67 33
  2. A modification of a word or its spelling resulting from a misunderstanding of its etymology, as with island, belfry, and hangnail. Tags: countable, uncountable Synonyms: popular etymology Translations (a modification of a word or its spelling): volksetymologie [feminine] (Dutch), kansanetymologia (Finnish), népetimológia (Hungarian), folketymologi [common-gender] (Swedish)
    Sense id: en-folk_etymology-en-noun-dAVFOD1k Disambiguation of 'a modification of a word or its spelling': 24 76
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated

Inflected forms

Download JSON data for folk etymology meaning in English (11.3kB)

{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "de",
        "3": "Volksetymologie",
        "nocap": "1"
      },
      "expansion": "calque of German Volksetymologie",
      "name": "calque"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "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).",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "folk etymologies",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "~"
      },
      "expansion": "folk etymology (countable and uncountable, plural folk etymologies)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "related": [
    {
      "_dis1": "54 46",
      "word": "folk etymologist"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "54 46",
      "word": "folk-etymologize"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "54 46",
      "word": "folk-etymological"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "54 46",
      "word": "folk-etymologically"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "54 46",
      "word": "folk linguistics"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "54 46",
      "word": "goropism"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "54 46",
      "word": "Hobson-Jobson"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "54 46",
      "word": "eggcorn"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "54 46",
      "word": "mondegreen"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "54 46",
      "word": "and phono-semantic matching"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "54 46",
      "word": "surface etymology"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "54 46",
      "word": "reanalysis"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "54 46",
      "word": "and rebracketing"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "54 46",
      "word": "catachresis"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "54 46",
      "word": "misnomer"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "54 46",
      "word": "and malapropism"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "72 28",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "76 24",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with language name categories using raw markup",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with language name categories using raw markup",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "73 27",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
          "parents": [
            "Terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "Many English folk etymologies involve backronyms."
        },
        {
          "ref": "1926, James A.H. Murray, A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles, volume X, part I, page 248, column 1",
          "text": "It is not improbable that, in some locality where tram-roads were a novelty, their name may have been associated in folk-etymology or by pre-scientific etymologers with that of the engineer.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1986, Robert Richardson, Henry Thoreau: A Life of the Mind, Berkeley: University of California Press, page 237",
          "text": "He even sharked up a false or \"folk\" etymology in which saunter is made to derive from sainte terre, making the saunterer a crusader.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2006, Shaligram Shukla, Jeff Connor-Linton, “Language change”, in Ralph Fasold, Jeff Connor-Linton, editors, An Introduction to Language and Linguistics, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, page 296",
          "text": "Thus hamburger (whose true etymology is 'city of Hamburg' + er 'someone from') has been reanalyzed as ham + burger 'burger made with ham.' [...] Subsequently, on the analogy of this folk etymology, new forms such as cheeseburger, chiliburger, and plain burger have been created.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A misunderstanding of the etymology of a word based on an inexpert analysis; an etymology that incorrectly explains the origin of a word based on the inadequate judgement of a common speaker of the language instead of etymological expertise."
      ],
      "id": "en-folk_etymology-en-noun-9CiDwHaV",
      "links": [
        [
          "etymology",
          "etymology"
        ],
        [
          "inexpert",
          "inexpert"
        ],
        [
          "judgement",
          "judgement"
        ],
        [
          "common",
          "common"
        ],
        [
          "speaker",
          "speaker"
        ],
        [
          "expertise",
          "expertise"
        ]
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "fake etymology"
        },
        {
          "word": "false etymology"
        },
        {
          "word": "pseudoetymology"
        },
        {
          "word": "paraetymology"
        },
        {
          "word": "paretymology"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "countable",
        "uncountable"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "_dis1": "67 33",
          "code": "hy",
          "lang": "Armenian",
          "roman": "žoġovrdakan stugabanutʿyun",
          "sense": "false etymology",
          "word": "ժողովրդական ստուգաբանություն"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "67 33",
          "code": "br",
          "lang": "Breton",
          "sense": "false etymology",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "etimologiezh-pobl"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "67 33",
          "code": "ca",
          "lang": "Catalan",
          "sense": "false etymology",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "etimologia popular"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "67 33",
          "code": "cmn",
          "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
          "sense": "false etymology",
          "word": "俗詞源學"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "67 33",
          "code": "cmn",
          "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
          "roman": "súcíyuánxué",
          "sense": "false etymology",
          "word": "俗词源学"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "67 33",
          "code": "cmn",
          "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
          "sense": "false etymology",
          "word": "望文生義"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "67 33",
          "code": "cmn",
          "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
          "roman": "wàngwénshēngyì",
          "sense": "false etymology",
          "word": "望文生义"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "67 33",
          "code": "cs",
          "lang": "Czech",
          "sense": "false etymology",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "lidová etymologie"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "67 33",
          "code": "da",
          "lang": "Danish",
          "sense": "false etymology",
          "tags": [
            "common-gender"
          ],
          "word": "folkeetymologi"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "67 33",
          "code": "nl",
          "lang": "Dutch",
          "sense": "false etymology",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "volksetymologie"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "67 33",
          "code": "eo",
          "lang": "Esperanto",
          "sense": "false etymology",
          "word": "popola etimologio"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "67 33",
          "code": "eo",
          "lang": "Esperanto",
          "sense": "false etymology",
          "word": "paretologio"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "67 33",
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "false etymology",
          "word": "kansanetymologia"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "67 33",
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "false etymology",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "étymologie populaire"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "67 33",
          "code": "gl",
          "lang": "Galician",
          "sense": "false etymology",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "etimoloxía popular"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "67 33",
          "code": "ka",
          "lang": "Georgian",
          "roman": "xalxuri eṭimologia",
          "sense": "false etymology",
          "word": "ხალხური ეტიმოლოგია"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "67 33",
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "false etymology",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "Volksetymologie"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "67 33",
          "code": "el",
          "lang": "Greek",
          "roman": "paretymología",
          "sense": "false etymology",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "παρετυμολογία"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "67 33",
          "code": "hu",
          "lang": "Hungarian",
          "sense": "false etymology",
          "word": "népi etimológia"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "67 33",
          "code": "id",
          "lang": "Indonesian",
          "sense": "false etymology",
          "word": "etimologi rakyat"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "67 33",
          "code": "id",
          "lang": "Indonesian",
          "sense": "false etymology",
          "word": "etimologi populer"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "67 33",
          "code": "it",
          "lang": "Italian",
          "sense": "false etymology",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "falsa etimologia"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "67 33",
          "code": "it",
          "lang": "Italian",
          "sense": "false etymology",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "pseudoetimologia"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "67 33",
          "code": "it",
          "lang": "Italian",
          "sense": "false etymology",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "paretimologia"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "67 33",
          "alt": "みんかんごげん",
          "code": "ja",
          "lang": "Japanese",
          "roman": "minkan gogen",
          "sense": "false etymology",
          "word": "民間語源"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "67 33",
          "code": "ms",
          "lang": "Malay",
          "sense": "false etymology",
          "word": "etimologi rakyat"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "67 33",
          "code": "nb",
          "lang": "Norwegian Bokmål",
          "sense": "false etymology",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "folkeetymologi"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "67 33",
          "code": "nn",
          "lang": "Norwegian Nynorsk",
          "sense": "false etymology",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "folkeetymologi"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "67 33",
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "sense": "false etymology",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "etymologia ludowa"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "67 33",
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "sense": "false etymology",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "etymologia popularna"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "67 33",
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "sense": "false etymology",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "etymologia potoczna"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "67 33",
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "sense": "false etymology",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "pseudoetymologia"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "67 33",
          "code": "pt",
          "lang": "Portuguese",
          "sense": "false etymology",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "etimologia popular"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "67 33",
          "code": "pt",
          "lang": "Portuguese",
          "sense": "false etymology",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "pseudoetimologia"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "67 33",
          "code": "ro",
          "lang": "Romanian",
          "sense": "false etymology",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "etimologie populară"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "67 33",
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "roman": "naródnaja etimológija",
          "sense": "false etymology",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "наро́дная этимоло́гия"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "67 33",
          "code": "sh",
          "lang": "Serbo-Croatian",
          "sense": "false etymology",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "pučka etimologija"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "67 33",
          "code": "scn",
          "lang": "Sicilian",
          "sense": "false etymology",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "etimuluggìa fausa"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "67 33",
          "code": "scn",
          "lang": "Sicilian",
          "sense": "false etymology",
          "word": "paretimuluggìa"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "67 33",
          "code": "sk",
          "lang": "Slovak",
          "sense": "false etymology",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "ľudová etymológia"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "67 33",
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "sense": "false etymology",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "etimología popular"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "67 33",
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "sense": "false etymology",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "paretología"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "67 33",
          "code": "sv",
          "lang": "Swedish",
          "sense": "false etymology",
          "tags": [
            "common-gender"
          ],
          "word": "folketymologi"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "67 33",
          "code": "tl",
          "lang": "Tagalog",
          "sense": "false etymology",
          "word": "palamuhatang-bayan"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "67 33",
          "code": "vi",
          "lang": "Vietnamese",
          "sense": "false etymology",
          "word": "từ nguyên dân gian"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "67 33",
          "code": "cy",
          "lang": "Welsh",
          "sense": "false etymology",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "camdarddiad poblogaidd"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1882, Abram Smythe Palmer, Folk-etymology: A Dictionary of Verbal Corruptions, London: George Bell, →OCLC, page 654",
          "text": "SURCEASE owes its form and meaning to a remarkable folk-etymology, as has been pointed out by Prof. Skeat:—\"It is obvious, from the usual spelling, that this word is popularly supposed to be allied with cease, with which it has no etymological connexion.\"",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A modification of a word or its spelling resulting from a misunderstanding of its etymology, as with island, belfry, and hangnail."
      ],
      "id": "en-folk_etymology-en-noun-dAVFOD1k",
      "links": [
        [
          "island",
          "island"
        ],
        [
          "belfry",
          "belfry"
        ],
        [
          "hangnail",
          "hangnail"
        ]
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "popular etymology"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "countable",
        "uncountable"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "_dis1": "24 76",
          "code": "nl",
          "lang": "Dutch",
          "sense": "a modification of a word or its spelling",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "volksetymologie"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "24 76",
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "a modification of a word or its spelling",
          "word": "kansanetymologia"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "24 76",
          "code": "hu",
          "lang": "Hungarian",
          "sense": "a modification of a word or its spelling",
          "word": "népetimológia"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "24 76",
          "code": "sv",
          "lang": "Swedish",
          "sense": "a modification of a word or its spelling",
          "tags": [
            "common-gender"
          ],
          "word": "folketymologi"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "wikipedia": [
    "folk etymology"
  ],
  "word": "folk etymology"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English calques",
    "English countable nouns",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English entries with language name categories using raw markup",
    "English lemmas",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English nouns",
    "English terms calqued from German",
    "English terms derived from German",
    "English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
    "English uncountable nouns",
    "Requests for review of Icelandic translations",
    "Requests for review of Serbo-Croatian translations"
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "de",
        "3": "Volksetymologie",
        "nocap": "1"
      },
      "expansion": "calque of German Volksetymologie",
      "name": "calque"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "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).",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "folk etymologies",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "~"
      },
      "expansion": "folk etymology (countable and uncountable, plural folk etymologies)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "folk etymologist"
    },
    {
      "word": "folk-etymologize"
    },
    {
      "word": "folk-etymological"
    },
    {
      "word": "folk-etymologically"
    },
    {
      "word": "folk linguistics"
    },
    {
      "word": "goropism"
    },
    {
      "word": "Hobson-Jobson"
    },
    {
      "word": "eggcorn"
    },
    {
      "word": "mondegreen"
    },
    {
      "word": "and phono-semantic matching"
    },
    {
      "word": "surface etymology"
    },
    {
      "word": "reanalysis"
    },
    {
      "word": "and rebracketing"
    },
    {
      "word": "catachresis"
    },
    {
      "word": "misnomer"
    },
    {
      "word": "and malapropism"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "Many English folk etymologies involve backronyms."
        },
        {
          "ref": "1926, James A.H. Murray, A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles, volume X, part I, page 248, column 1",
          "text": "It is not improbable that, in some locality where tram-roads were a novelty, their name may have been associated in folk-etymology or by pre-scientific etymologers with that of the engineer.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1986, Robert Richardson, Henry Thoreau: A Life of the Mind, Berkeley: University of California Press, page 237",
          "text": "He even sharked up a false or \"folk\" etymology in which saunter is made to derive from sainte terre, making the saunterer a crusader.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2006, Shaligram Shukla, Jeff Connor-Linton, “Language change”, in Ralph Fasold, Jeff Connor-Linton, editors, An Introduction to Language and Linguistics, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, page 296",
          "text": "Thus hamburger (whose true etymology is 'city of Hamburg' + er 'someone from') has been reanalyzed as ham + burger 'burger made with ham.' [...] Subsequently, on the analogy of this folk etymology, new forms such as cheeseburger, chiliburger, and plain burger have been created.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A misunderstanding of the etymology of a word based on an inexpert analysis; an etymology that incorrectly explains the origin of a word based on the inadequate judgement of a common speaker of the language instead of etymological expertise."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "etymology",
          "etymology"
        ],
        [
          "inexpert",
          "inexpert"
        ],
        [
          "judgement",
          "judgement"
        ],
        [
          "common",
          "common"
        ],
        [
          "speaker",
          "speaker"
        ],
        [
          "expertise",
          "expertise"
        ]
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "fake etymology"
        },
        {
          "word": "false etymology"
        },
        {
          "word": "pseudoetymology"
        },
        {
          "word": "paraetymology"
        },
        {
          "word": "paretymology"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "countable",
        "uncountable"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1882, Abram Smythe Palmer, Folk-etymology: A Dictionary of Verbal Corruptions, London: George Bell, →OCLC, page 654",
          "text": "SURCEASE owes its form and meaning to a remarkable folk-etymology, as has been pointed out by Prof. Skeat:—\"It is obvious, from the usual spelling, that this word is popularly supposed to be allied with cease, with which it has no etymological connexion.\"",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A modification of a word or its spelling resulting from a misunderstanding of its etymology, as with island, belfry, and hangnail."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "island",
          "island"
        ],
        [
          "belfry",
          "belfry"
        ],
        [
          "hangnail",
          "hangnail"
        ]
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "popular etymology"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "countable",
        "uncountable"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "hy",
      "lang": "Armenian",
      "roman": "žoġovrdakan stugabanutʿyun",
      "sense": "false etymology",
      "word": "ժողովրդական ստուգաբանություն"
    },
    {
      "code": "br",
      "lang": "Breton",
      "sense": "false etymology",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "etimologiezh-pobl"
    },
    {
      "code": "ca",
      "lang": "Catalan",
      "sense": "false etymology",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "etimologia popular"
    },
    {
      "code": "cmn",
      "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
      "sense": "false etymology",
      "word": "俗詞源學"
    },
    {
      "code": "cmn",
      "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
      "roman": "súcíyuánxué",
      "sense": "false etymology",
      "word": "俗词源学"
    },
    {
      "code": "cmn",
      "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
      "sense": "false etymology",
      "word": "望文生義"
    },
    {
      "code": "cmn",
      "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
      "roman": "wàngwénshēngyì",
      "sense": "false etymology",
      "word": "望文生义"
    },
    {
      "code": "cs",
      "lang": "Czech",
      "sense": "false etymology",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "lidová etymologie"
    },
    {
      "code": "da",
      "lang": "Danish",
      "sense": "false etymology",
      "tags": [
        "common-gender"
      ],
      "word": "folkeetymologi"
    },
    {
      "code": "nl",
      "lang": "Dutch",
      "sense": "false etymology",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "volksetymologie"
    },
    {
      "code": "eo",
      "lang": "Esperanto",
      "sense": "false etymology",
      "word": "popola etimologio"
    },
    {
      "code": "eo",
      "lang": "Esperanto",
      "sense": "false etymology",
      "word": "paretologio"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "false etymology",
      "word": "kansanetymologia"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "false etymology",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "étymologie populaire"
    },
    {
      "code": "gl",
      "lang": "Galician",
      "sense": "false etymology",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "etimoloxía popular"
    },
    {
      "code": "ka",
      "lang": "Georgian",
      "roman": "xalxuri eṭimologia",
      "sense": "false etymology",
      "word": "ხალხური ეტიმოლოგია"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "false etymology",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "Volksetymologie"
    },
    {
      "code": "el",
      "lang": "Greek",
      "roman": "paretymología",
      "sense": "false etymology",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "παρετυμολογία"
    },
    {
      "code": "hu",
      "lang": "Hungarian",
      "sense": "false etymology",
      "word": "népi etimológia"
    },
    {
      "code": "id",
      "lang": "Indonesian",
      "sense": "false etymology",
      "word": "etimologi rakyat"
    },
    {
      "code": "id",
      "lang": "Indonesian",
      "sense": "false etymology",
      "word": "etimologi populer"
    },
    {
      "code": "it",
      "lang": "Italian",
      "sense": "false etymology",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "falsa etimologia"
    },
    {
      "code": "it",
      "lang": "Italian",
      "sense": "false etymology",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "pseudoetimologia"
    },
    {
      "code": "it",
      "lang": "Italian",
      "sense": "false etymology",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "paretimologia"
    },
    {
      "alt": "みんかんごげん",
      "code": "ja",
      "lang": "Japanese",
      "roman": "minkan gogen",
      "sense": "false etymology",
      "word": "民間語源"
    },
    {
      "code": "ms",
      "lang": "Malay",
      "sense": "false etymology",
      "word": "etimologi rakyat"
    },
    {
      "code": "nb",
      "lang": "Norwegian Bokmål",
      "sense": "false etymology",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "folkeetymologi"
    },
    {
      "code": "nn",
      "lang": "Norwegian Nynorsk",
      "sense": "false etymology",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "folkeetymologi"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "sense": "false etymology",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "etymologia ludowa"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "sense": "false etymology",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "etymologia popularna"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "sense": "false etymology",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "etymologia potoczna"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "sense": "false etymology",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "pseudoetymologia"
    },
    {
      "code": "pt",
      "lang": "Portuguese",
      "sense": "false etymology",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "etimologia popular"
    },
    {
      "code": "pt",
      "lang": "Portuguese",
      "sense": "false etymology",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "pseudoetimologia"
    },
    {
      "code": "ro",
      "lang": "Romanian",
      "sense": "false etymology",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "etimologie populară"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "naródnaja etimológija",
      "sense": "false etymology",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "наро́дная этимоло́гия"
    },
    {
      "code": "sh",
      "lang": "Serbo-Croatian",
      "sense": "false etymology",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "pučka etimologija"
    },
    {
      "code": "scn",
      "lang": "Sicilian",
      "sense": "false etymology",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "etimuluggìa fausa"
    },
    {
      "code": "scn",
      "lang": "Sicilian",
      "sense": "false etymology",
      "word": "paretimuluggìa"
    },
    {
      "code": "sk",
      "lang": "Slovak",
      "sense": "false etymology",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "ľudová etymológia"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "sense": "false etymology",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "etimología popular"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "sense": "false etymology",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "paretología"
    },
    {
      "code": "sv",
      "lang": "Swedish",
      "sense": "false etymology",
      "tags": [
        "common-gender"
      ],
      "word": "folketymologi"
    },
    {
      "code": "tl",
      "lang": "Tagalog",
      "sense": "false etymology",
      "word": "palamuhatang-bayan"
    },
    {
      "code": "vi",
      "lang": "Vietnamese",
      "sense": "false etymology",
      "word": "từ nguyên dân gian"
    },
    {
      "code": "cy",
      "lang": "Welsh",
      "sense": "false etymology",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "camdarddiad poblogaidd"
    },
    {
      "code": "nl",
      "lang": "Dutch",
      "sense": "a modification of a word or its spelling",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "volksetymologie"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "a modification of a word or its spelling",
      "word": "kansanetymologia"
    },
    {
      "code": "hu",
      "lang": "Hungarian",
      "sense": "a modification of a word or its spelling",
      "word": "népetimológia"
    },
    {
      "code": "sv",
      "lang": "Swedish",
      "sense": "a modification of a word or its spelling",
      "tags": [
        "common-gender"
      ],
      "word": "folketymologi"
    }
  ],
  "wikipedia": [
    "folk etymology"
  ],
  "word": "folk etymology"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-04-30 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-04-21 using wiktextract (210104c and c9440ce). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.