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Initialisms or alphabetisms (spoken as
individual letters): BBC, DJ, GM, EU, USA
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Clippings (part of a word serves as the
whole): ad, demo, flu, fridge, max, phone, pub
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Blends (a word made from two shortened
forms): brunch, heliport, infotainment, motel, Muppet
(marionette + puppet), Oxbridge, numeracy, smog
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Word-class
Conversion
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Word-class conversion occurs when a word of one class (part of
speech) begins to function as word of a different class, for
example, spend
as a noun;
handbag, text, out, spam,
and surf as verbs
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some trade names have developed generic
meanings: Hoover, filofax, Band-Aid, Zimmer, Levis, perspex,
and Xerox
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personal or place-names may develop
uses as common nouns: ampere, biro, joule, mae west, ohm,
quisling, watt
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personal and place-names may be used as
the root for a general concept: Blairite, Californium,
Chaplinesque, Clintonite, Darwinism, Dianamania, Einsteinium,
Kremlinology, Leninist, Reaganomics, Thatcherism
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proliferation of nouns composed of a
combination of verb and particle: knock-out, stand-by,
stick-up, take-off, check-up, fly-past
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