ABSTRACT
This chapter looks at how words are formed in English. As explained by British linguist Jean Aitchison, "Most words are not new at all; they are simply additions to existing words or recombination of their elements. The chapter focuses on morphemes, the building blocks in the formation of words. It examines the formation of new words through conversion and derivation. Clipping is another type of word formation through shortening. There are three broad ways in which words are formed in English: word combining, word conversions and derivations, and word shortening. Compound words are formed by joining two words into one word. Some compound words retain elements of the meanings of the two words. Blended words have been called hybrids, fusions, and portmanteau words. Contractions are words that are formed by fusing a whole word with another word that has a deleted letter or letters replaced with an apostrophe.
