FOLK ETYMOLOGY

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FOLK ETYMOLOGY, also popular etymology. A term in LINGUISTICS for ‘folk’ or ‘popular’ theories (that is, the thoughts of ordinary, non-academic people) about the origins, forms, and meanings of words, sometimes resulting in changes to the words in question: plantar wart, a wart on the sole of the foot (from Latin planta), reinterpreted as planter's wart. See ETYMOLOGY.