Taxonomy of Wordplay

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1. Etymology
1. Acronyms, anagrams, portmanteaus
1. acronym that has become an uncapitalized word
1. longest
2. for each letter
3. abbreviation that is also a word, longest
2. word formed as an anagram
1. for each letter
2. anagrammatic pseudonym (pen name formed by transposing the author's real name)
3. portmanteau word (word formed by mixing two other words)
1. oldest
2. for each letter
3. joined at a shared sound (end of the first word is the start of the second)
4. border portmanteau place name (town name blended from adjoining states or countries)
5. portmanteau not taken (the other blend of the same two words)
4. reduplicative (word formed by repeating an element, exactly or with a vowel or consonant change: flimflam, helter-skelter)
1. ablaut reduplication order (first vowel I, second A or O: flip-flop)
5. backronym (phrase fitted to an existing word as its supposed expansion)
6. numeronym (first letter, count of omitted letters, last letter: i18n), most ambiguous
7. recursive or nested acronym (acronym one of whose words is itself an acronym, or the acronym itself)

Etymology

Acronyms, anagrams, portmanteaus [17-210,23-19,37]

acronym that has become an uncapitalized word [23-37]

e.g., SCUBA = Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus

longest

        uncommon word: wysiwyg (7)

for each letter

        see list Acronym That Has Become Uncapitalized, Beginning with Each Letter

abbreviation that is also a word, longest [37-56]

        e.g. doc (document), apt (apartment), ill (illustrated)

word formed as an anagram

e.g., SPANDEX = expands

for each letter

        see list Word Created as an Anagram, Beginning with Each Letter

anagrammatic pseudonym (pen name formed by transposing the author's real name) [26-127]

        e.g. VOLTAIRE from AROUET L.J.; ALCOFRIBAS NASIER from FRANCOIS RABELAIS
        e.g. GRUBENDOL from OLDENBURG

portmanteau word (word formed by mixing two other words)

e.g., MOTEL = MOTOR HOTEL

oldest

        common word: parsec (1913)

for each letter

        see list Portmanteau Beginning with Each Letter

joined at a shared sound (end of the first word is the start of the second) [TJ5-7,TJ5-67]

        e.g. staircase + quesadilla = stairquesadilla; guitar + target = guitarget

border portmanteau place name (town name blended from adjoining states or countries) [17-86]

        e.g. Texarkana & Delmarva & Kenova

portmanteau not taken (the other blend of the same two words) [19-73]

        e.g. GLOB vs BLOBE, GALUMPH vs TRILOP, MIMSY vs FLISERABLE

reduplicative (word formed by repeating an element, exactly or with a vowel or consonant change: flimflam, helter-skelter) [5-144,6-7,13-47,19-122,30-187,34-292,35-288,37-139,38-137,TJ4-37,WW52.2-73,WW52.4-71]

        common words: mishmash & knickknack & zigzag

ablaut reduplication order (first vowel I, second A or O: flip-flop) [19-114]

        e.g. ping-pong, zigzag, flip-flop, knickknack; exceptions teeter-totter, shipshape

backronym (phrase fitted to an existing word as its supposed expansion) [6-37,35-136,36-126,43-8,305,44-91,TJ2-54,TJ3-86,TJ8-44]

        e.g. Frankly, Life Is Too Short = FLITS; Yahoo = Yet Another Highly Officious Oracle

numeronym (first letter, count of omitted letters, last letter: i18n), most ambiguous [31-318]

        e.g. s5r: 217 dictionary words (Longman Crossword Key)
        e.g. a1e: ace, ade, age, ale, ape, are, ate, ave, awe, axe, aye (11, most for order one)

recursive or nested acronym (acronym one of whose words is itself an acronym, or the acronym itself) [3-232,10-216,16-92,21-173]

        e.g. NADGE = NATO Air Defense Ground Environment (NATO itself an acronym)
        e.g. GNU = GNU's Not Unix

Contents | previous: Pronunciation: Miscellaneous | next: Etymology: Words with unusual origins