| back-formation |
| Definition: Forming a word that looks like a root-word by removing affixes from an already existing word. |
| Example:
"Scavenger, n., is the origin, in English, from which to scavenge is a back-formation, the normal verb being to scavenger." (Source: Fowlers Modern English Usage, 516/1) |
| Etymology: Some claim that the word was coined by James Murray, the editor of the OED — the OED citation below suggests this — but I've found no solid proof for this as yet. |
| Oxford English Dictionary: Its first citation is from 1889: "Burgle … A back-formation from Burglar." (New English Dictionary (James Murray, editor)) |