Lesson 1 our changing vocabulary

Acronym

A word formed from the initial letters of a name or by combining initial letters or parts of a series of words: WAC for women’s army corps

Affix

a word element, such as prefix or suffix, that is attached to a base, stem, or root. b. something that is attached, joined or added. trans. verb a. to secure an object to another;attach: affix a stamp to a letter. b. to place at the end:affix a postscript. (from the Latin as-, meaning “to”, and figure, meaning to fasten)

coinage

a. the invention of new words. b. an invented word or phrase. c. the process of making coins: coinage of silver

colloquial

used in or suitable spoken language or to writing that imitates speech;conversational b. informal in style of expression.

malapropism

the use of a word sounding somewhat like the one intended but humorously wrong in the context: polo bear rather than polar bear

onomatopoeia

the formation of use of a word that imitates or resembles what it stands for.

palindrome

a word, phrase or sentence that reads the same backward or forward.

portmanteau word

a word formed by merging the sounds and meaning of two different words;blend

simile

a figure of speech in which two essentially unlike things are compared, often in a phrase introduced by like or as

spoonerism

an accidental but humorous distortion of words in a phrase formed by interchanging the initial sounds: the tons of soil rather than the sons of toil