Back-formation
A word formation process creating a new word by removing what appears to be an affix from an existing word. Back-formation creates innovations from misanalysis.
Real World
The verb 'to edit' was back-formed from 'editor' in the 19th century — speakers assumed '-or' was an agent suffix and stripped it, creating a new verb that is now completely standard.
Exam Focus
Explain the morphological misanalysis behind the back-formation, not just the example — examiners reward the reasoning.
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