Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
A popular explanation for the origin of a term which has been rejected as false by expert etymologists.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable, uncountable
Examples
- Many English folk etymologies involve backronyms.
- The spelling in 'sovereign' was influenced by folk-etymology association with 'reign'.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: etymythology, pseudoetymology, paraetymology, paretymology
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: misetymology
A modification of a word or its spelling resulting from a misunderstanding of its etymology, as with island, belfry, and hangnail.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable, uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: popular etymology
Antonyms: none provided
a popular but erroneous etymology
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: 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).
Across languages
Translations
60 source translations are retained for this English entry.
-
Albanian:
etimologji popullore
— false etymology
-
Armenian:
ժողովրդական ստուգաբանություն
(žoġovrdakan stugabanutʻyun)
— false etymology
-
Breton:
etimologiezh-pobl
— false etymology
-
Catalan:
etimologia popular
— false etymology
-
Chinese Mandarin:
俗詞源學 /俗词源学
(súcíyuánxué)
— false etymology
-
Chinese Mandarin:
望文生義 /望文生义
(wàngwénshēngyì)
— false etymology
-
Chinese Mandarin:
俗詞源 /俗词源
(súcíyuán)
— false etymology
-
Czech:
lidová etymologie
— false etymology
-
Czech:
bakalářská etymologie
— false etymology
-
Danish:
folkeetymologi
— false etymology
-
Dutch:
volksetymologie
— false etymology
-
Esperanto:
popola etimologio
— false etymology
-
Esperanto:
paretologio
— false etymology
-
Finnish:
kansanetymologia
— false etymology
-
French:
étymologie populaire
— false etymology
-
Galician:
etimoloxía popular
— false etymology
-
Georgian:
ხალხური ეტიმოლოგია
(xalxuri eṭimologia)
— false etymology
-
German:
Volksetymologie
— false etymology
-
Greek:
παρετυμολογία
(paretymología)
— false etymology
-
Hungarian:
népi etimológia
— false etymology
-
Indonesian:
etimologi rakyat
— false etymology
-
Indonesian:
etimologi populer
— false etymology
-
Italian:
falsa etimologia
— false etymology
-
Italian:
pseudoetimologia
— false etymology
-
Italian:
paretimologia
— false etymology
-
Japanese:
民間語源
(minkan gogen)
— false etymology
-
Korean:
민간어원
(min'ganeowon)
— false etymology
-
Malay:
etimologi rakyat
— false etymology
-
Norwegian Bokmål:
folkeetymologi
— false etymology
-
Norwegian Nynorsk:
folkeetymologi
— false etymology
-
Polish:
etymologia ludowa
— false etymology
-
Polish:
etymologia popularna
— false etymology
-
Polish:
etymologia potoczna
— false etymology
-
Polish:
pseudoetymologia
— false etymology
-
Portuguese:
etimologia popular
— false etymology
-
Portuguese:
pseudoetimologia
— false etymology
-
Romanian:
etimologie populară
— false etymology
-
Russian:
наро́дная этимоло́гия
(naródnaja etimológija)
— false etymology
-
Serbo-Croatian:
pučka etimologija
— false etymology
-
Sicilian:
etimuluggìa fausa
— false etymology
-
Sicilian:
paretimuluggìa
— false etymology
-
Slovak:
ľudová etymológia
— false etymology
-
Spanish:
etimología popular
— false etymology
-
Spanish:
paretología
— false etymology
-
Spanish:
paretimología
— false etymology
-
Spanish:
etimología sacha
— false etymology
-
Spanish:
etimología folklórica
— false etymology
-
Swedish:
folketymologi
— false etymology
-
Tagalog:
palamuhatang-bayan
— false etymology
-
Vietnamese:
từ nguyên dân gian
— false etymology
-
Welsh:
camdarddiad poblogaidd
— false etymology
-
Dutch:
volksetymologie
— a modification of a word or its spelling
-
Finnish:
kansanetymologia
— a modification of a word or its spelling
-
Hungarian:
népetimológia
— a modification of a word or its spelling
-
Polish:
etymologia ludowa
— a modification of a word or its spelling
-
Polish:
etymologia popularna
— a modification of a word or its spelling
-
Polish:
etymologia potoczna
— a modification of a word or its spelling
-
Polish:
pseudoetymologia
— a modification of a word or its spelling
-
Spanish:
reanálisis morfémico
— a modification of a word or its spelling
-
Swedish:
folketymologi
— a modification of a word or its spelling
